Ratatouille: The Doom Perfume - To Disney Infinity and BEYOND!
by The Mr E
Summary: The Incredibles vs the Big Hero 6 - crazy, right? And who would have thought it all began in Remy's kitchen, with an adorably awkward but dangerously genius intruder? Having travelled the world in search of the right ingredients, all she needed was a night howler from Remy's restaurant to accidentally ignite an adventure where ANYONE can show up, from Disney Infinity and beyond!
1. Chapter 1: An Intriguing Intruder

**I won't lie: this story gets a bit wacky at times, but w** **ith a heaping helping of action; a portion of drama; a touch of romance; a pint of poignancy; a teaspoon of sweetness; an aftertaste of mystery and a peppering of characters from multiple franchises, I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Bon appétit!**

 **Oh, and yes: I created the cover art.**

* * *

Chapter 1

An Intriguing Intruder

 ** _*( ( BOOOOM! ) )*_**

That ear-splitting noise shook the blue rat from unconsciousness.

Remy sat up in a hurry, temporarily forgetting where he was and what was happening. Man, his head hurt. He looked about and found that he was in the middle of a street. Around him was the French cityscape he called home, but clouds of dust obscured much of his surroundings. His unusually sensitive nose quickly sorted through the scents of his environment. He smelled fire; he smelled rubble; he smelled strange chemical reactions unlike anything to ever meet his nose. Wait … he remembered sensing similar chemical odours before this. They came from a familiar rodent … a girl.

Where **_was_ **she? He _**had**_ to find her!

 ** _*( ( FWOOOOM! ) )*_**

That noise almost caused him to jump out of his skin. What was it? An explosion?

Remy looked for the source of the sound and saw two titans clashing: one, a mammoth of a man in a scarlet suit with a stylised 'I' on his chest; the other, a massive machine in red armour.

Mr. Incredible.

Baymax.

The juggernauts fought with fists like thunder. Every time they hammered a hit, the resulting shockwave was nothing short of an explosion.

At the side of his eye, Remy caught a flash of white and a blast of flame.

He darted out of the way as streams of frost and fire collided where he sat. His tail felt the chill and heat of the competing forces. That was _way_ too close! The creators of the blasts stood silhouetted in the mist and smoke they had birthed: a teen in a kaiju costume and a man in a blue and white super suit.

Remy scampered through the street, following the enchanting scent of the rodent he sought to find. Around him, two figures blurred as they fought with frenetic speed, nearly crushing him. He couldn't quite make them out, but his ears caught bits of their banter:

 ** _"Ha!_** Missed me, GoGo!"

 **"GRR!** We'll see about that, Incrediboy!"

 **"Stop calling me that!"**

On the periphery of his vision, Remy glimpsed laser-induced plasma clashing with force fields. The only thing missing from this scene was an elastic woman and a girl with a chemical lab for a purse. He didn't bother giving them thought. In fact, he tried to ignore them all. He only had one concern, and soon that "concern" was in sight ahead of him amid the clouds of dust. With raspberry-red fur, she held her head in shock as she witnessed the destruction around her.

"This is all my fault …" she muttered, almost whimpered.

Then a four-legged form sprang from out of nowhere, snatched her up and galloped into an alley.

 **"NO!"** shouted Remy.

* * *

 _Hey, Remy here! Yeah, I know that was all pretty crazy. We should backtrack to the beginning. That'll shed some light on how these big heroes wound up clashing in this incredible battle._

 _I'm sure you remember me, because we've all watched Ratatouille, right? Well, if you haven't, you should be ashamed of yourself … I'm just kidding! Still, it is a pretty good movie so you got to watch it if you have not – man, I'm starting to sound like Zack Scott now. Anyway, that's a different subject. Moving on._

 _If you know anything about me, you know that I love to cook – finally managed to score a job at Gusteau's restaurant too! My career had a bit of a hiccup, though, when Gusteau's got shut down due to the discovery of a "rat infestation", (namely myself and my hard-working kinsmen). My human friend, Linguini, and I started our own restaurant, La Ratatouille, and **somehow** managed to pull a few strings so that I and my rodent brethren could legally work in the food industry. We became the talk of the town. Everybody couldn't get enough of La Ratatouille. As business boomed, we upgraded our facilities until our humble restaurant was right up there with the greatest, grandest establishments in all of Paris. I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me and tell me it's all just a dream! I was pretty sure my adventures were over and life couldn't get any more crazy and exciting!_

 _Until I met this girl …_

* * *

The kitchen was silent in the wee hours of the night,  
save the *plink*, *plink*, *plink* of a dripping faucet at the sink.  
Not a creature was stirring, not even a rat,  
until such a rodent emerged from a basin drain in an unhygienic state at that.

The moment she climbed into the sink, the savoury scents of the restaurant hit her like a tsunami. Her keen nose feasted on the faint aromas of wondrous recipes prepared the day prior. She could also smell traces of another rat. Not a concern – probably an intruder like herself, who had recently departed. Too bad the delightful meals had long been served to the eager diners. However, there were other options. Her nose had already picked up a produce storage area packed with goodies. It was enough to draw a growl from her empty stomach.

"Okay, okay, focus," she told herself as she secured the rodent-sized crossbody bag on her shoulder. "Just do what you came here to- **EEEEEEK!"**

And what had triggered her squeal? The sight of her own reflection in the sink's silver side surface, lit by streetlights streaming through the window. Looking like the living embodiment of all that was icky, she had no idea that she was that … that … ' ** _ewwww'!_** How in the world had she not realized-? Oh, right.

Her perfume.

Even with her sensitive nose, the perfume had almost masked the grimy scent. In fact, this perfume could override most unpleasant odours. It was one of her secret recipes, and she was very proud of it. The only ways to get it off were a chemical cancelling agent and lots and lots of time. To think this perfume was just a "primer" to prepare her for a much greater creation.

Yes, with her impeccable aroma, she had actually tricked herself into forgetting how filthy she was. In the past few days, she had done little to take care of herself: always so busy, always so hurried, but so, _sooo_ close to her goals. However, her goals would have to wait a few minutes.

If she remained in this state much longer, she would be morally obligated to throw herself into the trash.

Soap. She needed soap, and already she could identify several different cleaning agents at the sink's side. Such variety! Clearly, this was no ordinary kitchen. Some of the soaps were almost _lavish!_ Forget the dishes. They would disinfect a dirty rat like her and double as excellent shampoos and conditioners for fur, if combined to the right proportions.

She leaped onto the edge of the sink and pulled herself to the top before grabbing the stopper and heading back down to plug the drain. After returning to the tabletop, she turned on the water, climbed a few soap bottles, popped them open, and poured them into the filling sink with labourious effort but perfect precision. Upon attaining the right combination of soaps and water, she dove into the basin, marinated a little and rinsed to her heart's content.

After her bubble bath, she sprang out of the basin, gave a quick shake and got to work. Once she _somehow_ got a pot onto a burner (easier said than done), she began the long process of filling it with water cup by cup. However, she found creative ways to make the job much quicker and easier than it could have been. After about ten minutes, the pot was full and she switched on the stove until it simmered. Standing above it on an overlooking shelf, she reached into her crossbody bag and pulled out a transparent orb filled with multi-coloured liquid. Once she dropped it into the pot, she waited, but absolutely nothing happened.

"Huh," she commented, "I guess I had the wrong-"

Suddenly, a blast of colourful fumes erupted from the pot, causing her to jump back and laugh with delight.

" **Yeah! _Now_ we're talking!"** she cheered.

Her ears twitched in response to a sound. What was that? A gasp? Her eyes darted about to ascertain the source of the sound, but there was nothing there. She began to second guess her hearing, but at the back of her mind, there was still that scent of another rat. However, it was much less musty than that of any other rat she'd smelled. That rat couldn't still be in the room, right? His scent was simply too … _mild!_

Shaking the concerns from her head, she scurried across the shelf, stopping when she caught sight of her reflection in a piece of silverware.

"Oh, hello!" she said to her reflection. "I haven't seen you under that filthy fluff for days! Still rockin' that weird red fur, I see! That's … well, I can't say it's 'great', so I'm just gonna say 'weird', because it is what it is. Anyhoo, after tonight, I'll actually have a life and I won't need to keep talking to you as if I'm suffering from multi-personality disorder! Super, right?"

Much to her shock, her reflection answered her.

"You've been giving me that optimistic nonsense for **_months!"_** the mirror image chastised. "You'd _better_ get the formula right this time, otherwise you're gonna keep crawling back to me for company! Get a grip! **You. Are. Talking. To. Your. Reflection!** To make matters _worse,_ **your reflection's talking back!** Your desperation is **_destroying your sanity!_** Get the formula right and get a life! **I don't want to have to say this again!"**

With that, her reflection stomped out of sight, leaving her dazed and confused.

" _Okaaaay,"_ the rat told herself. "Best case scenario: I'm not as immune to my hallucinogenic concoctions as I thought. Too much got into my system and it's making me see things. Worst case scenario-"

" **You're LOSING your MIND!"** her reflection interrupted as it darted back onto the silverware, finishing her sentence. **"GO! Get those night howlers before this becomes a regular thing! GO! GO! GO!"**

 **"OKAY! OKAY, I'm GOING!"** the rat shouted back in panic.

She scampered across the shelf en route to the night howlers conveniently located at the far side.

"Hey," called an unfamiliar, masculine voice.

She froze. "Oh, no. Now my reflection's **forsaking its gender!"**

"I'm pretty sure it's not your reflection," the voice responded.

Slowly, tentatively, she turned to see a lean, blue rat about a yard behind her.

Remy was momentarily taken off guard by her bright, olive eyes. His powerful nose had long since detected her fragrance, but at this distance it was absolutely enrapturing.

"I … uh …" he faltered. "How …? How did you do that?"

"Do … what?" she asked hesitantly.

"Climb out of a drain, smelling _perfect_ ; wash the stuff off your fur and still smell the exact same way?" he asked. When she knit her brow, he preempted her question and tapped his nose. "I have highly developed senses: it didn't take long for your sillage to show up on my radar. And yes, I have been watching you since you first crawled out of the sink."

"Oh," she responded, slightly embarrassed. "It's a perfume I made."

"But why didn't it get washed off, or at least altered?" he persisted.

"It can't get washed off because it's not on my fur. It's _inside_ of me," she explained. "I call it 'Perma Perfume'. It's a combination of natural chemicals I ingested, which alters my biochemistry so that my body emanates the fragrance … if that makes any sense."

"You _bet_ that makes sense, that's **amazing!"** he exclaimed.

She blinked in surprise and perked up somewhat. In her experience, it was unusual for a rat to accept the bizarre without a sidelong look. Not only had he accepted her indubitably bizarre explanation, but he was _amazed_ , to top it off!

"By the way, I'm Remy," he introduced.

"I'm ..." she hiccuped to a pause, eyes darting about awkwardly, "I'm very pleased to meet you!"

He supposed that was a valid response, although he was expecting her name. Nonetheless, he forfeited a proper introduction to ask the question most pressing on his mind.

"When you stood over that pot, were you _cooking?"_ asked Remy.

"Ehmm … something like that," she answered with a semi-smile.

His interest was piqued. Standing before him was another rat who seemed to share his passion, or at least something similar to his passion, whatever it was. Then he remembered that she was a trespasser and decided inquire about her intentions.

"Anyway, what are doing here?" he asked. "After hours? In a staff-only area?"

She folded her arms defensively. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I work here," Remy explained. "And sometimes I stay overnight when I get too involved in my work, heh. So, yeah, being the head chef and co-owner of La Ratatouille, I can practically live in the kitchen without anyone asking questions."

Confusion creased her countenance. "Rats don't own restaurants."

"Didn't you see the sign outside?" Remy asked. "You know, with the rat with a toque on his head and a spoon on his shoulder? Albeit it's just a silhouette cutout, but that's supposed to be me."

Her jaw dropped in shock before she gushed. "I-thought-that-was-just-the-mascot! You-really-own-this-place? And-did-you-create-all-those-phenomenal-meals-I-can-identify-even-now? That's so … **inspirational!"**

He smiled, shrugged and bobbed his head from side to side the way he sometimes did when sheepish about being praised.

"Hey, by the way what happened to your fur?" he asked. "It's, what, French raspberry, right? Is that its natural colour?"

She stiffened and squinted self-consciously. "No. No, I don't think it is."

"Don't be like that, it looks really good!" he quickly declared. "I mean, the way it goes with your sparkling eyes, it-"

He stopped himself. **Sparkling?!** Did he actually let a word like **_that_** slip out of his mouth?! There was an awkward pause. All the while, she smiled shyly.

"So …" Remy continued. "If I may follow up, what brings a mouse like you to my restaurant?"

Remy caught a slight sigh escaping from her lungs as her ears hung in subtle annoyance and resignation. Her response was so nuanced that he could have missed or second-guessed it. His brain worked on overdrive. What had he said to upset her? He gave her a rapid once-over, and his mind picked up features previously unnoticed. It clicked.

"You're a _rat?"_ he asked in surprise.

She smiled. Bingo.

"Yup – Rattus norvegicus," she confirmed, stating their scientific name.

"My apologies!" he exclaimed. "It's just that you're, um …"

"Puny? Minuscule? Vertically challenged?" she suggested with a weak smirk. "Right. I get that a lot. For starters, I'm pretty sure I'm a runt. I'm also not a fan of garbage and I'm not particularly fond of stealing food, so there aren't that many options. Thus, I'm a bit on the gaunt side."

"I wouldn't say you're 'gaunt'," Remy argued. "I mean, I can't see your ribs, so you're good."

She examined herself and frowned. "Yeah. I guess there's that."

Remy almost slapped himself. In retrospect, that was _ **not**_ his idea of the ideal thing to say. He quickly tried to outrun the moment ... perhaps a little too quickly.

"Anyway,-if-you're-hungry,-I-can-whip-you-up-a-good-meal," Remy offered hastily.

She squinted in scrutiny. "Why would you do that?"

Let's see … He couldn't exactly say 'Because I think you may be my soulmate and I'm crushing on you so hard right now,' so he decided to go with something a little more tactful.

"Because you seem pretty decent and you gotta eat," he explained. Yes! Nailed it. "So, is there anything you feel like munching on in particular?"

She gazed about the kitchen like a kid in a candy store, scarcely believing her luck. Then she shook her head as she remembered why she was there.

"How about some Midnicampum holicithias!" she requested.

Remy cocked his head. "Wait, you're talking about 'night howlers'? How did you even know there were night howlers in the restaurant?"

"I can smell them from, like, over half a block away," she explained. "I guess some of the produce breached containment during transfer from vehicle to restaurant. I didn't see any, so I assume it was cleaned up, but it must have bruised when it hit the ground, leaving the residue I was able to detect."

Remy stared. She was right, but that had happened about a _day_ ago! She could identify his recent recipes _and_ track night howlers across such distance and time? Remy was impressed. Last he checked, he was the only rodent around with a nose that sensitive, but seriously, _half a block?_ On second thought, he wasn't sure if _he_ could pull that off. A sense of smell like that teetered on the edge of the preternatural!

"Okay, so you'd like something with night howler in it," he recapped. "That's doable, although it'll take me about half an hour to boil out the toxins."

"It's okay," she quickly declared. "I'd like it just as it is."

Remy furrowed his brow in concern. "Um, sorry. I don't think you wanna eat that. Night howlers are psychotropic, in this case meaning they can turn you into a savage, slavering, senseless beast. I had to go through **a _lot_** of health certificates just to get them into this country, much less serve them at a restaurant. I even gave an oath that I would never serve them to ** _anyone_** without the proper preparation. Humans can't even _touch_ them without a license. I mean, I'm not a human, but that's how serious it is."

She made big, puppy dog eyes. _"Pleeeeease?"_

Since he liked her eyes (for reasons beyond her imagination hampered by low self-esteem), she figured that maybe he would cave if she made good use of those eyes. Clearly it was working, until he hardened with decisive finality.

"No," Remy declared. "I might as well be feeding you plutonium."

"C'mon!" she insisted. "I'm not gonna eat it, I promise!"

" **No** means **no,"** Remy stated firmly.

Her ears dropped in disappointment. "Oh … well, that's okay."

Remy softened as he tried to explain. "It's just not ethical. I'm really sorry."

"I'm **_really_** sorry too," she apologised.

His eyes darted about in puzzlement. "Really sorry for what?"

With incredible speed and practised precision, she reached into her crossbody bag, snatched out a little black orb and tossed it at him. He instinctively dove off the shelf and the orb landed where he stood, swelling up into a massive, sticky ball about a foot wide.

" **What was that?!"** demanded a panicked Remy from the floor.

"I call it a Blackberry," she explained. "It's based on the formula for the spheres Syndrome used to trap Mr. Incredible on Nomanisan Island. It's sticky but harmless. _Sorry!_ **Hold still!"**

She tossed down another sphere and he rolled out of the way. It burst into a billowing bloom of blue smoke that vanished as quickly as it appeared.

" **What was THAT!?"** he screamed.

"Blueberry," she stated. "It's basically knockout gas, as harmless as the last berry. _Sorry!_ **_Please_ , **just hold still!"

She tossed another orb and Remy darted off to dodge it just as he had the others. However, this sphere exploded in a concussive blast of red mist that threw him across the floor. He scrambled to his feet and shook his head, dazed from the impact.

" ** _WHAT_ WAS _THAT?!"_** shrieked Remy.

"Oops!" she began. "That one? That one could have hurt you. It was supposed to be another Blueberry, but I accidentally grabbed an explosive Raspberry instead. My bad!"

" **STOP! STOP! Why are you _THROWING THINGS AT ME?!"_** Remy demanded.

She shrunk back guiltily. "I really don't want to, but I _need_ a night howler. Just a _pinch,_ and … and I can't let you stop me!"

He shot her a glare, then scurried away, angrily muttering to himself: "I finally meet a *mumble mumble* and it turns out she's _completely_ *mumble mumble*."

Her heart sank as she watched him slip out into the dining area, but at least he was out of her hair, and he would forgive her once she had finished her mission, right? … Right …?

She sighed and turned to head for the night howlers, when …

 ***WHAM!***

The dining room door was knocked open and there was Remy, riding the biggest lobster she had ever seen.

" **Say hello to my little friend!"** he shouted, holding the creature's antennae like reins.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **As a digital artist (with some college training under my belt), I've created an illustration to represent this story. The cover art is just a clip of it. Check it out on YouTube, under: Incredibles Vs Big Hero 6 | Timelapse Painting | from Fanfic "Ratatouille: The Doom Perfume". I've also started experimenting, turning the story into an audio fanfic where I challenge myself to voice act all the characters. You can find it on the same YouTube channel. It's not perfect, but I hope you enjoy it :).**

 **What do you think so far? Review and share your thoughts.**


	2. Chapter 2: Food Fight

Chapter 2

Food Fight

When Remy stepped out of the kitchen, the raspberry-furred rat assumed that he had backed down, and that was the end of their conflict. She **_never_** imagined that he was simply leaving to return riding atop a behemoth of a lobster fresh from the restaurant tank.

"This fella's name is Sebastian," Remy introduced. "He was supposed to be on the menu at some point or another, but I didn't have the heart to follow through with that. Sebastian, say hello."

The crustacean reared and snapped its claws like a bloodthirsty beast itching for flesh.

"Say hello back to Sebastian," Remy told her.

She decided to forgo the hellos and make a break for the night howlers. After all, she needed all the head start she could get.

The lobster reared like a horse and charged towards her, climbing the table beneath the shelf on which she ran. She was scarcely a foot from the night howlers. Then …

 ***KA- _RAAACK!*_**

The lobster's claw had burst through the wooden shelf and flung her to the ground.

She scampered away and Remy's crustacean chased her throughout the kitchen, slamming into the tables like a wild bull.

"Wait, why am I running?" she asked herself.

She turned and hurled a Blackberry into the sea creature's path. The chemical ball swelled and the lobster was suddenly stuck in its tracks, while the force of the collision was enough to send Remy hurtling onto a table.

The red rat gasped. **"Remy?** Are you okay?"

There was silence, until he appeared at the edge of the table wielding two black pepper shakers.

"What are you gonna do with those?" she asked.

"I'm thinking you'll have a much harder time getting past me if you're busy sneezing," he explained.

"Oh. Gotcha," she confirmed.

She dashed across the floor while he shot across the tables and sprinkled a rain of pepper in her path. Stopping just short of it, she dove under a serving cart and continued to run on the other side. She was swift-footed and quick-witted, but he managed to thwart her at every turn. He couldn't quite get her to inhale the pepper, but it was only a matter of time.

Suddenly, he knew something was wrong.

He couldn't hear the pitter patter of her scampering feet. She had stopped running? Why?

He peeked over the edge of the table just in time to see her hurl a Raspberry at its base.

The impact of the resultant blast caused the table to lurch backwards, launching Remy across the room into a basket of onions … with a knife. He winced, realizing that he was that close to being skewered on the blade. Then he had an idea.

The raspberry rat climbed onto a tabletop and held her head in concern as she stared at the basket of onions. This battle was getting seriously out of control. Had she actually hurt him this time? The answer came when a ring of onion flew at her from the basket like a Frisbee. She ducked as it whooshed overhead, causing her eyes to water ever so slightly.

Remy emerged from the basket with numerous onion rings looped across his shoulder, two strips in his hands like nunchuks.

"I hate to make a lady cry, but you've forced my hand!" Remy declared. **"Now _bring_ it!"**

She tilted her head in questioning hesitation.

He lowered his onion strips slightly. "Why aren't you bringing it?"

"I don't know," she began with a shrug, "it's just that I kinda feel bad attacking you with out-of-this-world chemical concoctions when you're brandishing a bunch of harmless onion shreds. Oh well."

She tossed a Blueberry his way but he whipped it aside with an onion strip as if it were nothing.

"So, you've been practising with those?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes, I have," he confirmed.

There was a brief pause … before she pitched several more Blueberries and he deflected or dodged them with spinning, acrobatic jumps and swings. Remy returned fire with a few onion rings but she shielded herself with a Blackberry that swelled into a thick ball. The moment the onion rings hit the ball, the Blackberry began to make a strange, effervescent hiss.

"Uh oh. The onion's denaturing the Blackberry," she muttered, letting her scientific, analytical side get the better of her. "I should have known it would react with the-"

She couldn't finish that sentence on account of the Blackberry exploding in her face in a dark, smoky burst. Remy had wasted no time. In her distraction, he had made his way towards her. Now, he leapt through the black smokescreen and whipped his onion strips down at her. Much to his surprise, she parried the attack with a lash of her particularly long tail.

"Oh **_come on!"_** he complained. "Since when could a rat do **_that?"_**

"I've been practising too, so **live with it!** " she retorted before furthering her attack with extreme skill and speed.

Working in the human-sized kitchen of a fast-paced restaurant, Remy had to be swift. He had to be strong. One wrong move could mean falling into a boiling pot or a sizzling frying pan. If he let his rodent limitations get in the way, he would never prepare his recipes on time. As a result, he was in peak physical condition. Every day at the restaurant had trained him for this battle. However, it was clear that whatever she had been doing with her life, it made her as capable as he was. Maybe, just maybe, she was more.

Remy repelled a flurry of berries before fending off her fierce, spiraling tail lashes.

They jumped away from each other and paused to catch their breath. Tears had filled her eyes, nearly blinding her. She tried to wipe them away but they quickly began to return. Was she crying? Not in a technical sense, but the onions were really getting to her.

"Not afraid to hit a girl?" she asked, trying throw him off.

"I don't _have_ to land a hit," Remy stated smugly. "As long as I swing these onions around, you're eyes are gonna water until you can't see, so **_BAM!"_**

She rubbed away the tears once again. "Yeah, like you're not on the verge of the waterworks yourself."

Remy laughed triumphantly. "You're right. My peepers are perfectly unaffected. You know why? **Because I'm a _cook!"_**

He sprang at her, but with burning eyes and blinding tears, she couldn't react in time. Soon, she found herself ensnared in the onion strips.

"And **_that's_** how it's **_done!"_** Remy proclaimed in victory.

"Ow, **ow, OW!"** the raspberry rat exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Remy asked quickly.

" **Some of the onion juices got in my eye!"** she stated urgently. "It **_burns!_** **OW!"**

Worried about her well-being in spite of their little dispute, he loosened his hold on the strips. Then his hands stung as she smacked the onions out of his grip with her tail and freed herself in one, quick move.

 **"Ha!"** she boasted. "Fell for it!"

Those tail tricks were pretty handy. He decided to give one a try.

Remy ensnared her feet with his tail and yanked her to the ground. **"Ha!"**

She did the same and he fell with a thud. **"HA!** **_Newbie!"_**

 _~~~ Several seconds later ~~~_

Both rats lay in a tangled ball of tails, and neither one was laughing. To say it looked like a game of Twister gone horribly wrong might have been an understatement.

"Okay, this is getting us nowhere," Remy noted miserably. "On the count of three, let's loosen our tails and go from there. One … Two … **Three!"**

Neither rat released the other.

"Hm, you didn't let go," Remy remarked. "I'm starting to get the feeling you don't trust me."

"Har, har," she fake-laughed. "You didn't let go either. Besides, I never agreed to release you."

"Yeah, well, I don't think either of us has a choice," Remy argued. "Seriously, we're running the risk of becoming a rat king ... if that hasn't already happened."

She raised an eyebrow. "A 'rat ... _king'?_ Is that a thing?"

"It's when rats get tangled together at the tail, and it's _not_ pretty," Remy explained. "Sixteen fellas ended up like that in my colony. They were lucky. We almost had to amputate."

"Did they try butter?" she asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "Butter may or may not have made it worse."

She shuddered as she looked down at her long, tangle-prone tail, wrapped around Remy's leg. At least she _thought_ it was her tail. Hard to tell in the mess of appendages and scents.

"Great. A reason to be glad I've been avoiding my species," she commented.

"Superiority complex?" asked Remy.

"Quite the opposite ..." she mumbled.

Remy might have pursued the subject, but he was in no mood to prolong a conversation, especially in that position.

"Okay, let's try this again," Remy offered. "Release on three this time, okay?"

He could feel her nodding.

Remy repeated the countdown: "One … Two … **Three!"**

They unravelled like a spool of thread, but the first thing she did was trip him with her tail again. He would have been upset, if he wasn't planning the same thing.

She ran away, leaping from tabletop to tabletop. She would reach her goal, and he wouldn't be able to stop her … unless …

He tore off a piece of paper towel and tied it around his nose like a dust mask. Then he rushed for a blender, switched it on and dumped the black pepper he had dropped earlier into the spinning blades. Without a cover to contain its contents, the blender spat the pepper throughout the room, and just as she was about to make the last leap for the night howlers …

*Ich _oo!*_

That sneeze was enough to make her stop short.

In Remy's mind it was one of the most adorable things he had ever heard. Resisting the urge to melt, he quickly caught up with her as the sneezing continued. Soon, he stood between the raspberry rat and her prize.

"My kitchen," he declared. "Home-field advantage."

She cast a sharp glare, then muttered to herself: "Lime … *ich _oo!* …_ ginger, garlic,*ich _oo!*_ … turmeric …"

The list went on, and most of it was muttered too quietly for Remy to hear.

Suddenly, she whipped out several Raspberries. He didn't think she had it in her to use them directly on him, but he wasn't taking any chances and therefore dove for cover. However, she threw the explosive orbs at the produce storage door instead of him. The combined force of the berries was enough to blast it off of its hinges. Then she leapt to floor and scampered into the produce room amid uncontrollable sneezing.

He peered into the room and watched her deftly leaping, climbing, flipping, swinging from shelf to shelf with impressive agility. Despite the effects of the black pepper, she managed to coordinate herself well enough to gather various little ingredients with single-minded tenacity. It was almost as if she were entranced by the task at hand. What exactly was she doing with the herbs, spices and a small lime? Finally, she leapt to the ground; tore off some of the lime's skin with her teeth; crushed up the other ingredients; poured them into the opening in the fruit and inhaled the mixture.

The sneezing stopped.

Remy stared in amazement. "You were making a _remedy?"_

"Mm hm," she proudly confirmed.

"That was **_incredible!"_** he exclaimed.

She gave a bashful smile. "Thanks."

They paused in a moment of uncertainty. Remy was glad that they seemed to be on slightly friendlier terms, at least for the second. Maybe she would abandon her attempts to get to his night howlers if he just talked things through with her a little-

"Anyhoo, regrettably, I still need a night howler," she stated.

He groaned in frustration. Here we go again.

"I never wanted to fight you over it!" she quickly declared. "Please! I'm trying to ask nicely."

"Honestly, **_why_** do you want it so badly?" he asked. "If you use it on yourself, you'll degenerate into a mindless killing machine and tear me apart. Worse than that, you'll probably go on to **destroy my _kitchen!"_**

"I'm not going to use it on myself," she explained, "I'm going to use it on everyone else!"

He gazed at her in bemusement. **"In what universe is that _better?!"_**

She winced. "Yeah, I'm aware that it sounds crazy, but I know what I'm doing, believe it or not!"

"Not," he answered. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you to leave. If I may burrow your words, I'm trying to ask nicely."

"I think you'll be begging me to stay once I finish my formula," she assured.

Remy gave a disapproving grunt. "Sorry, but whatever you're trying to cook up in _my_ restaurant, it's not gonna happen, so let it go."

Her eyes narrowed as she pulled out a white 'berry'. It was one of the few she had, and very hard to create, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Oh, I'm gonna let it go alright," she declared.

She hurled the berry past him, to the centre of the kitchen. When it landed and burst, the area was engulfed in a mass of swirling wind and frosty flakes.

A snowstorm.

Remy could hardly see through the whiteout, but he knew that somehow he had to stop it. Remembering the kitchen by heart, he scampered through the rapidly forming snow and soon found the stoves. The blue rat leapt and turned one dial, then another, and another, until all the burners were blazing against the blizzard. Shivering, he stood in the blanket of white and waited for the storm to die down. How was she doing these things? Who **_was_** she?

The red rat's voice pierced the still-swirling winds as she chuckled ominously. "Smart move, but it won't stop the storm before I stop you!"

A barrage of new, purple berries emerged from the blizzard. He dove, rolled and scampered away from every blast of violet mist. Yes, the snowstorm was fading, but soon he found himself surrounded by the purple smoke of the new berries dancing through the wind. As he breathed their gasses, fears crept into his psyche, and those fears were brought to life in the form of hallucinations.

(~I am everywhere,~) she declared.

The red rat's voice invaded his mind, causing it to conjure up apparitions of herself that haunted the mist.

(~I've traveled the world in search of all the right ingredients,~) she declared with a voice that seemed to come from all directions, darkened and distorted by the berries. (~Nomanisan Island, San Fransokyo, Arendelle, Corona, Angel Falls. The final ingredient rests in your restaurant. You seem like a nice guy. You inspire me and I hate to fight you, but **NOTHING will stop me from finishing my formula! _NOTHING!~)_**

One of the hallucinations got too close. The moment he realised it was not a hallucination, she threw a Blueberry directly into his face and he collapsed.

The storm died down and she parted the hallucinogenic, purple mist with the blast of a Raspberry thrown a short distance from her.

It was over!

She thought she'd be leaping for joy, but she felt bad about all the trouble she caused this friendly stranger who seemed so much like her.

"Oh, I hope that wasn't too much knockout gas," she sighed, before making her way to the night howlers through the melting snow.

After plucking off a strip of the plant's onion-like skin, she headed for the pot in which she prepared the formula.

Suddenly, she was pinned to the ground as something pounced from behind her. She could already smell the identity of the attacker.

" ** _Remy?"_** she exclaimed in confusion. "How did-?"

"I held my breath," he explained before trying to snatch away the night howler.

Much to his horror, she pulled it closer to her muzzle and opened her mouth.

"If you don't get off me, **I'll _eat_ it!"** she warned.

"You wouldn't go that far," argued Remy, only half-believing his own words.

"You don't know what I've **been** through," she growled. **"You have no _CONCEPT_ of how far I'll go!"**

Hurt and desperation spiced her voice, and it shook him to the core. Why was she so bent on her mysterious 'formula'?

"Let. **Me. _GOOO!"_** she roared before throwing him from her back with frantic strength.

The rats sprang to their feet and stared each other down. Then she balled up the piece of night howler and hurled it at the simmering pot she had prepared.

" **NOOO!"** Remy shouted as he turned to watch the plant sail through the air.

Would she actually get it into the pot at such a distance? The answer came when the night howler hit the metal rim and bounced to the tabletop.

Remy breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to the raspberry-furred rat.

She was gone.

He turned to the pot once again and much to his horror, she was standing on the shelf above it, night howler in hand.

"Okay …" Remy slowly began. "I'm going back to **NOOO!"**

She dropped the plant into the liquid and the pot bubbled and churned with growing restlessness. Blasts of colourful fumes exploded from it like a forbidden force of nature. The fumes rushed throughout the kitchen, the building, the streets, the city, reacting with the very air itself and racing across the globe. Remy's eyes grew heavy as his brain was bombarded by the mind-bending effects of the chemicals concentrated in that one room.

Finally, he passed out as darkness and bliss engulfed his world.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, everyone!**

 **This story is a little more lighthearted and off-the-wall than what I usually write on FanFiction, but it's pretty fun to concoct!**

 **So, what do you think this new rat is up to? Review and reveal your theories. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3: Six Heroes Enter the Batter

Chapter 3

Six Heroes Enter the Batter

Above an ocean, under the morning sun, a guy in a kaiju suit flew with his arm outstretched Superman-style, as if he were airborne on his own account. In truth, he was being carried by a large, jet-powered robot adorned with red armour, as were the other four humans dressed in brightly coloured outfits.

Thoroughly enjoying himself, the kaiju-suited individual sang:

"Living on the edge, fighting crime, spitting flame,

jumping to the highest ledge he can leap above our heads!

Aaah, aaah, aaah, aaaaaah, aaaaaaaah!

Aaah, aaah, aaah, aah, aah, aah!

Heading off to France with his friends, fate depends

on whatever they may find, no telling how this will end!

Aaah, aaah, aaah, aaaaaah, aaaaaaaah!

Aaah, aaah, aaah, aah, aah, aah!

Spec-ta-cu-lar! Spec-ta-cu-lar Hero 6!

Spec-ta-cu-lar! Spec-ta-cu-lar Hero 6!"

" **FRED!"** snapped the girl in yellow armour.

"What?" asked Fred, the guy in the monster costume.

"Look, we've been _tolerant,"_ the girl growled. "We suffered through your singing for hours without a word, but Fred, let me tell you, if you so much as hum another verse, I will **STUFF one of my _DISCS_ down your YAPPER and even the ordinarily-docile Wasabi will **_**HELP**_ **ME** **!"**

"No he won't," chuckled Fred.

"Yes he will," corrected Wasabi, the large, African American teen in green and black armour.

"Oh, come on!" Fred argued with his usual happy-go-lucky mood intact. "It's not like you guys aren't as stoked about visiting Paris as I am, Right? Riiiight? _Riiiiiiiiiight?"_

GoGo Tomago groaned, irritated by his repetition. Be that as it may, she couldn't disagree with him.

"No argument there, Freddie," stated a tall girl in pink. "Remember that 0.03% atmospheric difference my ChemiCalculator picked up last night? It's up to _**0.07%**_ and _ **rising**_ as we get closer to Paris! I wasn't able to make heads or tails of it in San Fransokyo, but now it's strong enough for me to analyse with the ChemiCal in my suit. It's some kind of subtle but highly efficient psychotropic substance."

"Honey Lemon, are you saying that this thing affects our _minds?"_ asked the youngest of the group, a boy in a purple suit.

[I am detecting irregularities in your collective nervous systems,] stated the robot acting as their mode of transport. [Your neurotransmitters are rising, as is the case with your endorphins.]

"So basically it's giving us the happies? _"_ Wasabi summarised. "Sounds harmless enough."

"Maybe," Honey Lemon half-agreed, "but it seems to have covered the entire distance from here to Paris … at least I _think_ it's coming from Paris. Honestly, it's unlike _anything_ I've ever encountered!"

[Sounds _sick!]_ the red robot declared. This wasn't his first attempt at slang, but it always came off as contrary to his nature.

"Hm, let's hope it's not the 'twisted' kind of sick," commented the boy in purple. "Okay, we'll fan out when we get to Paris and search for anything suspicious. Baymax, use your G.P.S. to find a convenient rendezvous point in the city."

[I am on it, Hiro,] confirmed Baymax.

With the wind whipping by, the six heroes saw the French landscape looming in the distance, heralding the beginning of perhaps their craziest adventure yet.

* * *

"Remy? Are you awake?" came a voice squeakily laced with uncertainty. "I think I saw your nose twitch. Can you hear me? Hello?"

Though conscious, Remy could hardly concentrate on what she was saying. He didn't want to open his eyes and divide his attention between sight and smell. All he wanted was to forever savour the aroma. As a rat with a particular affinity for taste and smell, he had a tendency to enjoy (or hate) a scent more than the average member of his species. It was one of the primary reasons why he liked to remain cleanly, aside from the facts that he handled food often and that good hygiene was part of basic common sense (something his dad would debate him on as long as he had breath in him, it would seem). However, this scent was different. He didn't think there was a rat on Earth who wouldn't be obsessed with it on the first sniff.

He rolled onto his feet and crawled towards the scent. With every step, it increased exponentially. Then his nose collided with fur, triggering an amused but simultaneously uncomfortable giggle.

"Okay, I'm gonna need a _liiiiiiittle_ personal space," said the giggler.

Remy furrowed his brow. The source of the smell was _alive?_

He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of a familiar, raspberry-furred rat. She looked exactly the same way as she had when he last saw her, but she wasn't the same. His nose _screamed_ that she wasn't the same!

The red rat stared at him analytically. "Let's see ... Vastly dilated pupils … Expression of awe and wonder … Biochemical odours suggesting intense affection … Just like all the others. Excellent. Okay, I think we got off on the wrong foot, so let's start over. Hi, it's nice to meet you."

She extended a paw. Remy gently took it, but instead of shaking the paw, he dealt it a light kiss.

"Bonjour, ma omelette au fromage. T'as d'beaux yeux, tu sais?" Remy replied in French with more charm than he ever knew he had, before catching himself and muttering through his teeth. "Did I actually just say that?"

Her eyes popped. _Whoa._ Beyond 'hello' and possibly something about an omelette, she had no idea what he was saying, but it didn't take much to get the general gist. Unaccustomed (and uncomfortable) with being on the receiving end of this behaviour, she withdrew her paw, fur fluffed as it stood on end.

Remy cleared his throat. "So *ahem* to whom do I owe the pleasure? Forgive my memory, but I don't recall if you ever introduced yourself."

She smacked her forehead in a show of apparent realisation. "Oh! That's right! Silly me. I forgot. You just forget sometimes, y'know? You think you're on top of things, then you forget. Without warning, you just forget, you forget and the memory's gone. It's so easy to forget. It's such a hassle."

She constantly accentuated the word 'forget' with a snap of the fingers.

Remy nodded. "Yeah, I know how it is. Hey ... what were we talking about again?"

 _"See?"_ she exclaimed. "You just forget! It's so annoying! You just forget about it. So, Remy, you're an articulate fella. Can you describe to me what I smell like right now?"

"I … don't think I _can_ describe it," he confessed, his mind still spinning from the fragrance. "I just … _can't._ It's _beyond_ me!"

"Try," she pressed.

His brain grappled for words, until he opened his mouth: "Your … previous perfume, it's been multiplied by a million, yet in some way it seems to morph into every aroma I've ever held dear; every scent that stirs up fond memories; every culinary creation I'm proud of in all its glory; all the meals I could ever wish to make. Your perfume brings life to my hopes and dreams, and at the pinnacle of all those hopes and dreams is … _you!"_

She bounced up and down in excitement. **"Yes! Yes-yes-yes! It works!"**

"But you were _already_ using the perfume when you came to the restaurant," Remy reasoned. "Why is it so different _now?_ And how does that pot of chemical brew you made last night fit into everything?"

"My perfume and the pot work hand in hand!" she excitedly explained. "The pot created a global chemical reaction that supercharges the Perma Perfume! The chemicals communicate with people's brains through their sense of smell, telling them 'Hey! When you get a whiff of that rat and her perfume, your mind's gonna simulate every smell that makes you happy, boost the feeling and associate it with her'!"

"So it's like mind control?" Remy asked. _**"Cool!**_ I never thought I'd be this happy to be mind controlled!"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's 'mind control'," she argued, "more like 'mind _convincing'."_

He gave a pleasant shrug. "Fair enough. I think I'd agree with almost anything you say at this point."

She cocked her head. "That _does_ sound a little like mind control, but at least you said you'd agree with _'almost_ anything', so I guess it's not the same! **Great!** Wait, wait, wait. I gotta hold my horses here. First, the ultimate test. What if I told you I blew up the dining room?"

" _Did_ you blow up the dining room?" he asked.

"Yes," she confirmed. "There's nothing left of it whatsoever and I have no regrets."

He stared at her for a second. "Right now, I feel like I should be screaming at you … before collapsing … and then convulsing while frothing at the mouth … hm … but I simply _ **can't**_ be angry at you when you smell like this!"

Her face alit with an elated smile as she shook her head in disbelief. "That _**settles**_ it … I can't believe it … I've _**done**_ it! I've finally created the **_Omega Aroma!_ This changes **_**EVERYTHING!"**_

"I don't know why it 'changes everything', but if _**you're**_ happy, _**I'm**_ happy!" Remy cheered.

She laughed ecstatically before remembering to tell him: "Oh, by the way, I didn't destroy the dining room."

"That's good to know," Remy stated.

"However, some crazy stuff _did_ happen since you passed out last night," she continued.

He cocked his head, confused. "Last … night?"

Remy looked around and for the first time noticed the morning sunlight that lit the room.

"Whoa! The Sun's up? When did _**that**_ happen?" he asked in genuine bewilderment.

"Uh … How did you not notice that earlier?" asked the raspberry rat.

"I suppose I was too busy thinking of you," Remy reasoned.

She snapped her fingers in response. "Oh, right. An unfortunate side effect. I knew that the Omega Aroma might require a cool-down period. Before that period's up, it works a little _too_ well, resulting in obsessive levels of interest in me, hence the unfortunate events that transpired while you were asleep."

Remy began to ask: "What unfortuna-?"

He stopped speaking, noticing one of her sticky Blackberries on the counter nearby. Several familiar rats were glued to it, struggling to free themselves.

"Oh …" Remy commented.

Then his eyes drifted across the kitchen and he spotted more rats, some glued to Blackberries and others unconscious, likely due to Blueberry sleeping gas. Additional Blackberries barricaded the dining room door. To say the least, the kitchen looked like a war zone.

" **Oh …!"** he remarked.

Then his eyes flit across the sinks, clogged by the black, bulbous masses. The door that led outside was barricaded by the chemicals as well, but what he saw beyond the _windows …_

" **OH!"** Remy exclaimed, jumping in startlement.

Legions and legions of rats peeped through the glass. Eyes wide and faces pressed against the surface, they were stacked on top of each other just to peer at the raspberry rat.

"These rats started showing up around daybreak," she explained. "At first they were friendly, but they quickly started acting like a mob of fans – you know, the rabid kind that tries to tear you apart. I was forced to incapacitate them and block the entrances to prevent late-comers from, you know, _coming._ Do you know these rodents?"

"You bet I do, they're my _staff!"_ Remy exclaimed before waving at them. "Hey, fellas!"

Though their feral eyes remained fixed on the female rat, they all waved back at Remy, except the largest of them all, who simply winked.

The raspberry rat shivered and rubbed her arms in an attempt at self-consolation. "The big guy kind of creeps me out. He's been winking like that since he got here."

"Oh, that's just Git," Remy explained with a wave. "He winks at everyone indiscriminately. Right, Git?"

The big rat gave another wink.

"I suppose that's slightly comforting," the red rat stated. "Still, I gotta scram before they find their way in."

" **DON'T LEAVE!** _ **MARRY**_ **US!"** about half of the rodents began to shout.

" **I _TOLD_ YOU, I believe in _MONOGAMY!"_** the raspberry rat snapped back.

They went silent, for the moment.

"Most rats are tragically lacking in self-control," Remy stated.

"Yeah, that's true," she agreed.

"They just do whatever their instincts and stomachs tell them," he went on.

"I know," she agreed once again.

"But not me," declared Remy.

"And I deeply appreciate that," she commended.

"I'd _never_ be as pushy as _they_ are," he pressed.

She stared at him in realisation.

"What?" asked Remy.

Amusement put a smirk on her face. "You're hammering it home to come across as the most suitable suitor, _**aren't**_ you?"

" _Nooo,"_ he declared in a drawn-out, unconvincing way. "Why would I-? Okay, yes. That's exactly what I was doing. Sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, at least you're honest. Anyway, if I'm going to survive the initial effects of the Omega Aroma, I've got to get out of here before they reach me. This is your kitchen, so I figured you might know a discrete means of escape. Can you help me, please?"

"I'd have myself prepared _**Bordeaux-style,**_ if you asked!" he stated emphatically.

She cocked her head. "Bordeaux … _what?"_

Remy opened his mouth to answer.

 _~~~~~~~~ One horrifically revolting explanation later … ~~~~~~~~~_

"… and I'd do all of that without hesitation, just for **you."** Remy finished.

She stared at him, blinking blankly. "That has to be the most disturbing thing I've ever heard."

" _Disturbing_ but sacrificially _**sweet,**_ right?" asked Remy.

She hesitated. "I'll … have to get back to you on that."

The ceiling began to rattle.

Then scores upon scores of rats burst through the fire sprinklers, swarming across the ceiling and making their way down the walls.

"Huh, I didn't know our kind could cling to ceilings like that," Remy calmly commented, "though I _have_ heard of a movie like this once. Maybe had a similar nightmare on occasion ..."

" **I'M living the nightmare** _ **RIGHT NOW!"**_ she squealed. "And sure, I got myself into this and I'm usually not this high-maintenance, but _**GET ME OUT OF HERE!"**_

Remy rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then asked: "Could you pass me a Blackberry?"

"Uh, sure," she agreed, having no clue as to what he would do with the chemical sphere she handed him.

Remy pointed at the floor. "See that slightly irregular piece of flooring? Throw a few Raspberries at it."

She wasted no time in tossing the explosive chemicals and blowing a hole clean through the concrete, revealing rushing water beneath it. The raspberry rat almost retched at the smell. Clearly she had blasted an opening to the sewage system. Meanwhile, Remy tossed the Blackberry at the edge of the hole and it began to swell. Soon, it would cover the opening.

Understanding his plan, she began to protest. "Remy, I can't-"

She was interrupted when noxious fumes finally got a gag out of her.

"Can't believe I made that shot on the first try?" Remy asked, trying to finish her sentence. "I'm surprised too!"

Much to her horror, he scooped her up and leaped into the hole as the rats closed in around them. Once the two fell through the ground, the Blackberry filled the opening, stopping the rats from following.

" _Awwww …"_ the rodents groaned in disappointment.

" **REMY!** *cough* **HELP!** *choke* **I CAN'T SWIM!"** the raspberry rat shouted amid the rowdy current.

Her head bobbed above and beneath the water before Remy reached her and paddled for a piece of floating debris, carrying her. They threw their forelimbs over the debris and she stopped panicking somewhat, coughing and sputtering.

"Sorry!" Remy apologised. "I assumed that you'd know how swim, since you said you'd had crazy adventures around the globe and all that."

She began to answer. "I usually circumvented the need to swim with my wits and chemical- Wait a minute ... It's dark, so I didn't get a good look and there's _no_ way I'm gonna look now, but what are we clinging to, exactly?"

Remy began to reply. "It's a Pooh Bea-"

"Excuse me while I go drown," she interrupted.

"No, it's not what you think it is," Remy insisted. "It's a just a Pooh Bear."

"So it came from a _bear?"_ she countered. "That's arguably _worse!_ What's that stuff even _doing_ down here?"

Remy chortled at how things had escalated into a funny little misunderstanding. Then he took a step back to find the right words to clear up the confusion.

"Okay, so there's this bear from a storybook called 'Winnie the Pooh'," Remy explained. "What we're clinging to is a stuffed animal made in his likeness."

The red rat blinked in incredulity. "'Winnie the ... **_Pooh'?_ **How did they get away with naming a _children's_ character **_'Pooh'?!_** Why not 'Franklin', or _literally_ **anything** _**else?**_ I ... I'm sorry, but what exactly _is_ a 'Pooh'? And why _'THE_ Pooh'. Is he, like, one specific _species_ of ... of **'Pooh'?"**

Remy broke into a full-blown laugh as he looked further down the tunnel. "That's actually a funny story. I'd be happy to share … Uh oh."

Her face took on a look of indifference. "Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall."

He adopted a similarly indifferent air. "Yup."

"Sharp rocks at the bottom?" she asked.

"I'd be more concerned about the soft stuff," Remy stated.

She blinked apathetically. "Bring it on."

Over the waterfall they went, joined by a myriad of other sewage swills cascading from similar tunnels into one, deep, central abyss.

" _ **OHHHHHHH, YEEEEEAAAAAAAH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEEEAAAAH! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_ she screamed with a fatalistic attitude of 'que sera sera'.

Remy screamed with her, but unlike her he was genuinely enjoying himself. Her perfume had him in a perpetually peppy mood.

They crashed through the water's surface at the bottom of the abyss in the midst of rushing bubbles, gulping down more sewage soup than they would have cared to ingest. The swirling swill dragged them deeper still until they were sucked into a new pipe, tossed around by rapid waters and spewed into the outside world.

As the fell into a river, the red rat screamed until she stopped and took on a thoughtful air.

"Wait ... what's happening?" she asked.

"We're plunging into a waterway," Remy answered simply.

"I _know_ that," she confirmed, "but that's not how sewage is supposed to work. It's supposed to get _treated_ before being released into any river. And _how_ is the fall perpetuating itself long enough for me to have time to point out that-? Oh, look at me, getting pedantic. Never mind, this really isn't the time to-"

 ***SPLASH!***

They were immersed in the river.

The sewage pouring on top of them pushed them further and further beneath the surface, but she could feel Remy's paw somehow manage to grab her arm and drag her out of the downward current. The filthy, murky waters cleared and what did they see?

A pair of piscine lips parting in a grin, revealing rows of menacing teeth.

"Hollo," greeted the owner of the teeth, a great white shark with an Australian accent.

* * *

 **Please note: after reconsideration, the 'sewer joke' mentioned in the comments has been replaced by the 'Winnie the Pooh' joke, which is a reference (almost quoted verbatim) to a YouTube video by the 'Super Carlin Brothers' where they delve into the origin of Winnie the Pooh's name. Check it out. It's pretty interesting.**

 **Yup. Plenty of references in this story. How many did you pick up in this chapter? Identify them in the comments, if you're up for the challenge.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4: Incredibles Assemble

**Some of you are probably aware that The Incredibles does not take place in the present (more like somewhere in the 1960s). However, in this story, let's say The Incredibles and Big Hero 6 both exist in the present. There will be an in-story explanation for that.**

 **By the way, this story takes place between the first and second Incredibles movies. Some of this chapter will feel like deja vu, but let's just say there's explanation for why it starts much like a scene in Incredibles 2 (I hope I'll remember to explain that later, but either way you guys might be able to figure it out ;). The other deja vu moments can be attributed to callbacks.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Incredibles Assemble!

Across the sea, in an American suburb, a family bickered at the dining table. In their social lives, they were known as the Parrs. To the world, they were known as one of the greatest super hero families of all time.

" **WE wanna fight BAD GUYS in _PARIS!"_** demanded the second youngest child, Dashiell, or ''Dash as his friends and family often called him.

Baby Jack Jack babbled in enthusiastic agreement with his older brother. At least, it _sounded_ like agreement. Who could really tell?

"It defines who I am," Dash declared, puffing up his chest in an attempt to take on an epic stance.

His father, Robert, 'Bob' for short, tried to reason with him: "That doesn't mean you have- _**What?"**_

"Someone on T.V. said it," Dash explained.

 **"Super heroes. Are. Illegal,"** Helen, his mother, emphasised as she stepped into the room. "That doesn't change because we all woke up this morning with some inexplicable urge to go to France. We only got away with fighting Syndrome because he was a problem far too big for the police and military. Even so, we got lucky. If some big villain like, say, the Underminer pops up, the authorities probably won't take too kindly if we push our luck and try to bring him down. That said, I checked booking for flights to France-"

 **"AWESOME!"** Dash cheered before darting away with inhuman speed.

They could hear him rummaging through the bedrooms for a few seconds before returning with two suitcases stuffed to the brim.

"I've packed all the essentials so we're all set!" Dash happily declared.

The teenaged Violet glared at him. "You went through my _stuff?_ You better not have read my diary, insect."

"Oh, come on," Dash protested. "I only flipped through a few pages. Nothing more than unusual. Don't I at least get a 'thank you' for packing for my sister?"

More than a little irritated, Violet subtly dug her nails into the table. She glanced about. Too many witnesses. If she wanted to punish him for his invasion of her privacy, she would have to do it when no one could hear him scream. _Or_ she could relax and let it go this time. Violet chose the second option. Her unrepentant little brother didn't deserve such an gracious big sister, she thought.

"Fine," Violet began. "I appreciate you packing for me. You just better have kept your icky little unmentionables as far away from mine as possible."

The impish smirk on Dash's smug little face told her otherwise.

Violet gave a feral snarl, and even before she pounced across the table Dash was screaming **"HELP! _MURDER!"_** As far as Violet was concerned, witnesses or not, the little goblin had to **_pay!_ **However, she suddenly found herself frozen midair, thanks to Bob catching her just before her pounce reached Dash. Curiously, he had never done that before, usually resorting to verbal rebukes. Perhaps with their recent adventures fresh in his mind, Bob's heroic persona was constantly simmering beneath the mediocrity of his civilian identity. Now, _especially_ now, it didn't take much to make Mr. Incredible jump into action.

He gingerly placed her back in her seat and she folded her arms, dissatisfied.

 **" _Whoa-ho-ho!"_** Dash exclaimed. "Where'd you get the panther-like reflexes, Dad?"

A proud smile tugged at Bob's lips. "When you do hero work as long as I did, you learn to think fast. Besides, your mother told me Violet pulled a stunt like that before, so I was half-expecting it."

 ***Ahem*** Helen cut in. "As I was saying, I checked booking for flights to France. _**Not**_ because we're going go there, but because I was _curious._ Turns out we're not the only ones suddenly thinking about France. Flights to Paris are overbooked across several states."

"That means this is **_bigger_** than a villain attacking a city! _ **"**_ Dash reasoned. "Whatever's going on, it's affecting _**everybody!**_ The Incredibles should be in Paris solving this mystery!"

"The … Incredibles?" Bob asked.

"Yeah!" Dash went on. "That's what a lot of people online are calling us."

Bob sat back as he thought of the name with a light in his eyes. _"The Incredibles._ I like the sound of that."

"Not you too, Honey!" Helen exclaimed. "We don't _know_ if whatever's happening requires The Incredi-, I mean, _**us!**_ If we show up in costume and there's no party, both the French and the American governments will have our heads! In fact, they'll probably have our heads even if we're neede-"

*Ding dong!* went the doorbell.

Helen stretched he elastic arm _waaaaaaay_ across the room to open the door as she continued: "We can't afford to put ourselves jeopardy like that again. Am I making any sense here?"

She turned the knob and pushed the front door open.

Everyone stared at her in shock.

At first she did not understand, until she remembered what she was doing: _stretching!_ Whoever was beyond that door would have seen her using her powers when she opened it. She quickly withdrew her arm, but even if they hadn't spotted it, they would ask themselves how the door had opened when there was no one close enough to open it. Since their adventure on Nomanisan Island, the family had found themselves accidentally using their powers more frequently. However, Helen would have never guessed that it was _she_ who might have blown the family's cover.

They shifted their gazes to the door to see who had likely discovered their secret.

The African American man at the entrance laughed. "Chill. Your secret's safe with me."

" _ **Lucius!"**_ Bob exclaimed in relief upon seeing his old friend.

Helen touched her chest and sucked a few heavy breaths, as though being resuscitated from a heart attack.

Bob went on: "How _ice_ of you to drop by!"

Lucius was not amused. "Look, Bob, we're friends but I gotta tell you straight: that pun barely worked the first time and it's definitely not gonna work now."

Bob raised his hands in surrender.

"So … what brings you here?" Helen asked, still slightly shaken from the scare.

"Honey and I are taking an impromptu vacation to Paris," Lucius explained. "We wanted to know if you were interesting in house-sitting the apartment for us."

Normally, Dash would have been happy to house-sit in Lucius's cushy home. However, he was too busy throwing a tantrum to care.

" **Why does _EVERYONE_ get to go to Paris EXCEPT **_**US!"**_ Dash demanded.

" **We can't just hop on a jet like that!"** Violet countered.

Dash slumped into his chair and pouted. "I blame it on our less-than-incredible income."

The boy's eyes brightened as he noticed the bag slung over Lucius's shoulder.

"What's that?" asked Dash, wondering if Lucius was leaving them some kind of parting gift.

The man chortled. "The vehicle's so chock-full of luggage that this fell through the door when I got out. Stuffing it back in would have been too much of a hassle, so I decided to lug it with me. Heh, funny that it's my super suit of all things."

Bob and Helen exchanged glances.

"Why are you taking your super suit?" asked Helen.

"Funny story," Lucius began. "I wake up last night in a cold sweat. All I can think is **'Paris! PARIS! _PARIS!'_** Honey gets up a few moments later and _immediately_ starts making _'subtle'_ hints about wanting to go to Paris too. We quickly pull out the laptop and check booking for a flight. Whaddya know? The flight's overbooked! We check for another. Again, _**overbooked!**_ Luckily, Honey was able to work a bit of her womanly wisdom and we nabbed a flight. Seconds later, it's **overbooked too!** Across the country, it's the same! Something is _definitely_ up, and if it calls for a super, ol' Frozone will be there to turn down the heat."

" **TAKE ME WITH YOU!"** Dash cried out.

" **YA GOT SCHOOL, SO _PIPE DOWN!"_** Violet snapped.

Jack Jack began to bawl.

Dash pointed at him in vindication: _**"SEE?**_ Jack Jack's _**protesting!**_ **He wants to go too!"**

"I think he just wants us to quit _screaming,"_ Violet guessed.

Helen picked up Jack Jack and tried to hush him, but he reached his pudgy little hands towards Bob.

"I think he wants _you,"_ Helen told her husband.

Bob attempted to take the baby, but he clung to both of his parents.

"I guess he wants both of us," Bob reasoned.

They held the baby between them. Jack Jack's crying subsided somewhat, until he extended his hands towards his siblings and squealed once again.

Violet and Dash exchanged looks before making their way to their younger brother.

"What is this? A group hug?" asked Dash, who was still dragging the suitcases.

The baby gurgled, almost content when the entire family had gathered around him. _Almost._ He threw his arms towards Lucius and whimpered. When the man hesitated, he got louder and louder until Lucius hustled to him and he calmed down.

"Is this normal?" asked Lucius.

Bob shrugged. "No, but if it makes him feel better then-"

Suddenly, swirling lights emanated from the baby and engulfed their surroundings.

* * *

As quickly as they came, the lights cleared but the familiar dining room never reappeared. Instead, they found themselves at the edge of a waterway in a city. The architecture alone suggested that this was no American town. When they looked along the river and saw the Eiffel Tower standing proud in the distance, there was no denying the incredible truth.

They were in Paris.

Jaws loose, they all looked at Jack Jack, who giggled and clapped as if very pleased with himself.

"That … was _**freaky**_ …" Lucius exclaimed.

" **You have POWERS?!** _ **YYEEEEEAAAH,**_ **BABY!"** Bob cheered, lifting Jack Jack into the air as if he were baby Simba himself.

 **"Coolest. Brother. EVER!"** Dash chimed.

Helen rebuked them with a harsh whisper: _"We're in public!"_

Bob lowered Jack Jack self-consciously and looked about. Across the waterway, he could make out the nondescript figures of pedestrians and cars too far to pay them any mind. To the left, the brick walkway on which they stood was empty. The closest sign of life was a boat drifting atop the water in the distance. Behind them was a large, stone wall. At the top of that wall, the street and the rest of the city stretched. So far so good. They had all the privacy they needed. Bob looked to the right _aaand_ …

His brain went into red alert.

A man and a woman were coming towards them. However, Bob's fear melted and gave way to confusion. The pedestrians hadn't noticed them. It seemed they were … _dancing?_ They looked like a love-struck couple straight out of a musical. The pair tangoed across the walkway without a care in the world, until the man launched the woman into a spin with such vigour that she twirled right into the water.

Bob's hero instincts kicked in and he darted to her aid, fishing the woman out of the river.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Never better!" she chirped, dripping wet, dancing on the spot as she sang her own off-key version of Pharrell Williams's 'Happy'.

"Shall we continue our frolic, Mademoiselle What's-Your-Name?" asked the man.

"Of course, Monsieur Whoever-You-Are," she agreed with a giggle.

"Wait, you don't even know each other?" asked Helen.

The pair laughed before answering in unison: **"Nope!"**

With that, they danced away, occasionally stopping to clap their hands as if they felt like rooms without roofs.

Throughout the city, civilians could occasionally be heard breaking into song while car horns honked in bouts of rhythmic harmony. The pervading happiness that had gripped the city was slowly seeping into the Parrs and Lucius, gradually lightening their moods.

"Is this France or Broadway?" Violet asked incredulously.

"I don't know," Lucius began. "All I know is Honey ain't gonna be too sweet when she finds out I hightailed it to Paris without her! You gotta send me back, Jack Jack!"

The baby stared at Lucius, blinking blankly.

"Oh, so _**now**_ he has no idea what he's doing!" Lucius exclaimed as he threw his hands up in frustration. "This is _**not**_ cool!"

An excited smirk crept across Dash's face. _"Buuuut,_ now that you're here and you've got your super suit, maybe it's time to get in the Fro-Zone!"

Lucius patted Dash on the head. "You're young, Speedo, so I'll let you get away with that wordplay. However, you have a point."

"Supers are **_still_ **illegal!" Helen insisted. "Besides, the fact remains that we don't know if we're dealing with something that requires the intervention of The Incredi-"

Suddenly, a large, jet-powered red robot flew overhead with a boy perched on its back. It seemed to search its surroundings before disappearing into the distance above the building on the opposite side of the waterway.

Violet squinted. "Was that-?"

" **IT'S the ROBOT from _BIG HERO 6!"_** Dash shrieked. **"That team's supposed to be in San Fransokyo, but they're HERE! This _MUST_ be an emergency! **_**Everyone's**_ **in on this mystery except US! Maybe Bomb Voyage is behind this! He's French, right? He could have created a bomb that makes people act weird and happy or _something!"_**

"And _why_ would he do that?" asked a skeptical Violet.

" **I DON'T KNOW!"** Dash shouted as he pulled at his hair, reaching the boiling point of exasperation. **"All I know is that if I don't get to go super hero soon. I. Will loose. My _MIND!"_**

" _ **Shhh!"**_ Helen shushed. "We're still in public! Save that kind of talk for _after_ we've suited up."

She released a sigh as everyone stared at her in surprise.

"Look, I don't know how I feel about this," Helen began, "but Dash is right. We could be needed here."

" **Yeah heah heah! Wooo!"** Dash laughed in ecstasy. **"Incredibles,** _ **assemble!"**_

Violet's response was quick and critical: "What are you _talking_ about? We don't need to assemble, we're all already here!"

Dash shrugged. "Someone on T.V. said it."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Review and share your thoughts!**


	5. Chapter 5: Just ONE Bite!

Chapter 5

Just ONE Bite!

Beneath the surface of a Parisian river, the red rat fought hard not to gasp in surprise and suck in water. She found herself scarcely a foot from rows of serrated teeth grinning at her. **_A great white shark?!_** Of all the creatures in all the waters, why did it have to be a _great white shark?!_ To top it off, this was a freshwater river, not a salty ocean! What was a shark even _doing_ here, and what was keeping him from going belly-up? Perhaps he had some means of mitigating the deadly effect of freshwater.

Her first instinct? **Swim for your life!** However, she quickly remembered that swimming was not in her repertoire. **Great, just _great!_**

Suddenly, Remy grabbed her and began dragging her to the surface. She had almost forgotten that he was there to help. Except … he was swimming way, way too slowly. She couldn't blame him. After all, his tiny limbs had to swim for two body weights. Luckily, Norway rats such as themselves were great at going without oxygen. However, the shark would more than likely get them before they reached the surface. She couldn't imagine any way for the situation to get worse.

"The name's Bruce!" the shark introduced. "And to my left and right are Anchor and Chum!"

"Hello!" greeted Anchor, a hammerhead.

"Hey, mate!" said Chum, a maco shark with a gold hook in his nostril.

A bubble escaped her mouth in a tiny, fearful squeak. **There were _three_ of them?! ** She hadn't noticed the others with Bruce's bulk blocking her view. Sure, they were smaller than he was, but more than big enough to snap up a rat. And what was with the friendly act? Were they toying with their prey? What a sick game, she thought.

"Oh! You're _drowning_ , aren't you?" the great white exclaimed in concern. "Let ol' Brucie give you a fin."

With that, he began to push the rats towards the surface with his nose.

 ** _Yes,_** she mentally exclaimed! It seemed she'd misjudged the sharks. Then Bruce took a deep sniff of her perfume, his pupils dilated until they filled his eyes with black and a sinister grin crept across his face. Nevermind. That was one of the scariest things she had ever witnessed. She decided that she'd seen enough, pulled out a purple Fear Berry and hurled it at the shark. However, the water slowed it to a stop and it harmlessly floated in front of her. It seemed she was helpless.

Bruce's eyes returned to normal as he shook his head. "Nope, nope. Despite the fact that you smell like every wonderful thing I ever ate, I maintain my belief that fish are friends, not food."

"Hey, Bruce?" began Chum as he swam beside the bigger shark.

"Yeah?" answered the great white.

"That ain't a fish, is it?" the maco shark went on.

Bruce's eyes took on an ominous gleam as his pupils enlarged once again. "You know what, Chum? I think you might be onto something."

He spread his jaws and threw them towards the rats with ferocious vigour.

In that fraction of a second, the red rodent's brilliant brain kicked into hyperdrive as it tried to answer one question: How to survive this? Hurling berries was useless. The water created too much drag, slowing her pitching arm and the berries themselves. Berries were activated when broken by force. What could move quickly and forcefully through water? Something with low surface area, like her tail. She couldn't exactly throw a berry with her tail, but what if the distance between the berry and its point of impact was ... zero?

In the blink of an eye, she hurled a Blackberry. The water immediately stopped it in front of her - perfect! With expert accuracy (and a little luck), she whipped it with her tail and it activated.

Bruce's jaws clamped down, but they did not get far. The Blackberry had expanded and wedged between them. He writhed and swam about like a mad bull as he tried to dislodge the ball. She immediately knew that something was wrong: when he moved, she moved with him. Much to her horror, she discovered that her tail had fixed to the sticky Blackberry in his mouth. However, there was something still attached to her besides the Blackberry.

There was Remy.

Time seemed to freeze as she stared at him. With eyes gnashed shut, he held her paw with absolute resolve. She knew that he would never let go. Even with the smaller sharks dashing by and crashing into Bruce in a feeding frenzy, Remy would not let go. Even as the great white began to dive deeper and deeper into the ocean and the rodents' bodies begged for oxygen, he wold never, **_ever_** let go. The sad part was, she knew that he couldn't help her. What good would it do if they both drowned or got snapped up?

Remy's eyes shot open as he felt her release him. He tightened his grip, but her paw slipped until it disconnected from his. A rush of bubbles fled his mouth as he screamed and she was dragged into the murky depths without him.

Down ...

Down ...

Down went the red rat and the sharks.

Her lungs burned; vision blurred; mind fogged from the lack of oxygen. She closed her eyes as her brain formulated what she imagined to be its last thought. And what was that thought? **STUPID,** **that's what it was in her opinion!** She was wondering if Bruce's jaws had enough bite force to eventually chomp through the Blackberry! Honestly, _why_ couldn't her genius mind think of something more worthwhile?

Her eyes shot open as her brain came alive.

Bruce's jaws created force. Force activated berries. _She_ had jaws!

She reached into her bag, knowing the place of every berry by heart (at least 98% of the time). Upon pulling out a sky blue chemical sphere, she bit it. It expanded rapidly, pushing Bruce away and detaching her tail from his mouth as she slipped into its surface.

Once within the chemical sphere, it carried her up ...

Up ...

Up ...

Up ...

Meanwhile, Remy was right where she left him. His body was limp as he stared with empty eyes into the deep waters that had claimed the raspberry rat. His lungs cried for air but his heart cried for her.

Hold on ... what was that?

Something blue had come into view far beneath him. He squinted at it. It appeared to be some kind of ... _ball?_ Whatever it was, it was rising towards him quite quickly. Behind it were the sharks, led by Bruce who had finally managed to get the Blackberry out of his maw. Remy grunted as the blue ball crashed into him and lifted him to the surface. Finally, it burst from the water and floated into the air. Seconds later, the sharks leaped after it, but it was already beyond their reach.

 **"JUST _ONE_ BITE!"** Bruce demanded, fruitlessly flinging himself from the river over and over.

After coughing out half a lung of water, Remy examined the surface of the ball on which he found himself. So, it wasn't just a ball, it was a _bubble._ Within its surface was a second layer - another bubble, and within that inner bubble was a red rat racked in a coughing fit.

 **"You're ALIVE!"** Remy exclaimed ecstatically.

After one more violent cough, she gave him a thumbs up. "Yup. Still kickin'."

He glanced about at the bubble beneath him. "What _is_ this thing?"

"It's an Up Berry," she explained. "Kinda like a hot air balloon, but more advanced."

"How did you manage to blow it up underwater?" he asked.

"It converted the surrounding water into the helium that fills the outer layer, and the breathable air that fills the inner layer," she explained. "Well, I should say ** _most_** of the inner layer's air is breathable. There's some helium in here too, but it collects at the top of the bubble so we don't have to breathe it."

Remy was no professor of chemistry, but he knew enough to know that water was composed of hydrogen and oxygen - not all the stuff needed to create breathable air, far less helium.

"I didn't think chemistry worked like that," Remy commented.

"Most people don't," she explained. "For what ever reason, my knack for chemistry goes beyond what is conventionally thought to be possible. The Up Berry transforms water and air into the necessary substances on the atomic level."

"Wait a minute, is that 'transmutation'?" asked Remy. "Are you some kind of _alchemist?"_

She paused, considering the terminology. "I can see why you'd ask that, but I wouldn't use that word. Let's just say I'm freakishly good at what I do. If you peeked inside my mind, you'd probably go crazy ... a fate which at times I fear has already befallen me."

He smiled and shook his head at her. "You really are amazing, and that's not just the mind control talking."

"Ah, mind **_convincing!"_ **she reminded.

"Oh, right, right!" he agreed. "Wait a minute I just realised something! I have no idea what your name is!"

She hesitated. "Uh, my name is ..."

"Mine," came a distant voice.

"Your name is 'Mine'?" asked Remy.

She cocked her head. "What? No! What made you think that?"

"You said 'mine', didn't you?" he inquired.

She shook her head.

"Mine!" came another yell, sounding closer than the first.

"Hey! This time I heard it too!" she exclaimed. "But where's it coming fr-?"

She stopped herself as she and Remy simultaneously gazed into the distance. A massive cloud of seagulls was swarming towards them. One word was on each of the birds' beaks, and they chanted it over and over and over:

 **"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"**

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Let me know how you feel about this story in the reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6: Second Star to the Right

Chapter 6

Second Star to the Right

With the wave of seagulls sweeping towards them, urgency spurred the rodents to act fast.

 **"Get in here! _NOW!"_** the red rat commanded.

Remy pressed his muzzle against the blue sphere, but he couldn't penetrate it.

"It's a _bubble!_ How am I supposed to get in?" Remy asked.

She slapped her palm against her face. "Right! Good point. Uh, you gotta create a circle with your paws and press it against the surface."

He did as she instructed.

"Great!" the red rat continued. "Now, here's the tricky part: carefully expand the circle, stretching the surface as if you're making an opening, but keep your paws symmetrical in relation to each other. Hold that position for three seconds."

He attempted to follow her command. Two seconds later, a green circle appeared between his paws. However, on the third second, the circle turned red and suddenly shrank, pulling his paws back together before turning blue again.

"What happened?" asked Remy.

 **"Your paws weren't symmetrical enough!"** she explained.

 **"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"** the birds chimed as they grew far too close for comfort.

 **"Try again!"** she shouted.

Remy created another circle, this time more carefully. The green portal between his paws appeared once again.

"Good! **Now dive through it!"** she instructed.

He pushed his nose into the green and fell through both layers of the Up Berry, tumbling to a stop beside her. Meanwhile, the seagulls' beaks were seconds away from puncturing the bubble.

 **"Brace for acceleration!"** she warned.

The female rat poked a hole through the Up Berry with her tail and it released a rush of air, jetting out of the birds' reach in a burst of speed. A moment later, the opening sealed shut by itself and the bubble floated to a stop.

The seagulls flapped about with a few confused "mines" before changing course and heading for the bubble.

She leaped to the top of the Up Berry and used her tail to prod it, creating a spurt of escaping air that pushed the bubble towards the city below. When the birds dove after them, she changed course with another poke and the seagulls missed the bubble, passing in a rush of wind.

Bit by bit, she piloted the Up Berry towards the city for a safe landing while evading the birds. Every time she made a hole and the balloon's air reserves rushed out, it healed and refilled as best it could by absorbing and repurposing the atmosphere around it. Despite the fact that she was using air faster than it could renew itself, it shrank slowly enough to get them to the ground safely until …

*peck*

 **"Mine!"**

One of the birds' beaks had breached the bubble. Almost instantaneously after that word was uttered, the larger-than-usual hole made by the beak jetted the rodents across the city's sky. By the time the Up Berry came to a stop, it was small - way too small to make another move. The rats looked down at the ground.

"Think we could survive that fall?" Remy asked.

"I may be a bit pessimistic by habit, but I don't think so," she answered downheartedly. "Well ... I guess this is it ... I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

"Are you **kidding?!"** Remy exclaimed. "I should be **_thanking_** you! I haven't had this much fun in **ages!"**

She smiled half-halfheartedly. Well, at least he was happy.

Just as the birds were on the verge of popping their bubble for good, there was a rush of green, a flash of gold, a slash of a knife and the rats were whisked to safety. For once, the seagulls' single'mine'ded chants died down as they watched their target being carried away by ... a boy in _green,_ dressed like an _elf, flying as fast as the wind itself?_

The red rat's nose twitched in confusion (one of her little quirks). First sharks, then seagulls, and now a flying boy? Her perfume was bringing the strangest people out of the woodwork. On the other hand, Remy (literally grasped in the hand opposite to the one that held her) didn't seem as confused as she was.

"I can't believe it ... the stories are real! **You're _Peter Pan!"_** Remy exclaimed.

"You got that right!" the boy confirmed with a chuckle.

"And you can talk to _rats?"_ Remy asked in awe. "The books never mentioned that!"

Peter shrugged. "Rats, fairies, you name it. It just comes with the territory of being awesome."

"Hey! Don't forget _Tinker Bell!"_ chirped a fairy who flitted in front of Remy, casting a golden glow. "I know, I know: my beautiful brilliance is a little intense. It's like staring into the Sun, am I right? The books could never prepare you for that, but you'll get used to it."

"What books?" asked the red rat.

The fairy darted to the raspberry rodent and folded her arms, her radiance flashing to raging red. **"What kind of _cave_ have you been living in to have never heard of _Tinker Bell and Peter Pan?!"_**

The red rat winced, intimidated. It didn't help that Tinker Bell's belligerent glow actually burnt a bit at that distance.

"I'm sorry!" the rat apologised. "I don't usually read books pertaining to anything but chemistry, perfumery or science in general!"

"Ugh, ignorant and you're a _female_ too!" Tinker Bell insulted. "Usually, I'd try to get rid of you in a fit of jealousy, but I can't hate you when you smell so **amazing!** Somehow, your scent reminds me of all the things that make me happy: fruits, flowers, pumpkin muffins and sweaty animal suits!"

The raspberry rodent blinked. "Um ... sweaty _what?"_

"When you hang out with the Lost Boys as long as I have, you sort of start to love their horrid little stenches," Tinker Bell explained.

The red rat nodded, not knowing what else to do. Then her inquisitive eyes drifted to Peter Pan, and back to Tinker Bell. Several times, she glanced between the boy and the fairy, as if comparing them.

"How are you flying like that?" she finally asked Peter. "I mean, Tinker Bell's got wings, but you don't seem to need any. Are you a 'super' like The Incredibles?"

"Well, I _am_ pretty super," Peter boasted, "but it's just a matter of faith, trust and a touch of pixie dust. That last part is the twinkly stuff trailing behind Tinker Bell, by the way. Bind those things together with the happiest thoughts and flying's as easy as one, two, five."

"Three," Tinker Bell corrected.

"Huh? What was that, Tink?" asked Peter Pan.

"You said 'one, two, five'," the fairy went on. "Three comes after two, not five."

The boy almost choked on his own shock. **_"T-Tink?!_** That sounds like **_educated stuff,_ **and **_educated stuff_** sounds like **_SCHOOL!_** You know I've banned school across Neverland! **_Have you been BREAKING THE LAW?!"_**

 **"NO! Of course not, Peter! _HONEST!"_** she frantically exclaimed.

He gave her a suspicious stare. "Alright, Tink, but I've got my eye on you."

So, Neverland was a place where common sense was borderline illegal? The red rat wandered what it would be like to live there. She shuddered: a **_nightmare_** (for her, at at least). The rodent decided to think about something else, like pixie dust. Could such tiny, glittering particles really bestow the power of flight? How did it work? What made it tick? She decided to subject it to a thorough, chemical analysis when she had the time. Tinker Bell was just ahead of her, which made it easy to open her crossbody bag and collect some of the twinkling trail behind the fairy. Suddenly, Tinker Bell looked back at the rat, causing her to self-consciously withdraw.

"Nice bag!" the fairy commented. "Did you make it?"

The rat began to answer: "A Barbie gave it to-" then she paused, realising how unbelievable her Toy Story would sound. "I mean, I salvaged it from an abandoned Barbie doll and tinkered with it to suit my needs."

The fairy grinned. "Tinkering, huh? You'll fit right in."

"Fit in where?" asked the rat.

"Neverland, of course!" Peter Pan explained as he pointed into the sky. "You can't really see it in the daylight, but it's the second star to the right and straight on 'till ... well, I can't say 'morning', 'cause this _is_ morning, so let's just say it'll take us until evening to get there. We're gonna make you the first of the Lost Rats."

 **"Yay!"** Remy cheered.

"Sorry, not you," Peter clarified. "We're gonna make you our Father. As a single parent, that basically means cooking, providing for the family and you're real small and easy to take advantage of, so we'll have no respect for your authority. Basically, you're gonna be kinda like a slave."

"But I get to _cook,_ so **still yay!"** Remy repeated all the same.

"That's very nice of you, but I sort of live down there," the raspberry rodent declared as she pointed at the Earth below.

"Not anymore, you don't!" Tinker Bell happily informed.

"Hmm ... I see," the rodent calmly commented.

With that, she pulled a new, chemical sphere from her bag. Emanating an ecstatic glow, it was gold with flecks of blue hue rising from the top like sparks from a fire.

 ** _"Oooh!"_** Tinker Bell squealed. **"What's _that?_ **It's almost as pretty as **_I_** am!"

"I call it a 'Joy Berry'," the red rat explained.

"So if I eat it, it will make me happy?" asked Tinker Bell.

"No, and no," the rodent answered. "You can't eat it, and it ain't gonna make you happy."

Without warning, the rat hurled the chemical ball ahead of Peter. He caught up with it, crashed into it and the ball exploded into luminous, golden mist bursting with what appeared to be blue firecrackers. Stunned, the boy stopped mid-flight and dropped the rodents.

"Ha ha! They never saw that coming!" Remy commended as he fell alongside the red rat. "Now you can save us with another Up Berry, am I right?"

"Um, well, you see, here's the thing: I only had one of those," she explained.

He shrugged. "Oh, well. I'm sure you'll figure something ou-"

 **"Tigger Berry!"** she interjected. "I can save us with a Tigger Berry!"

Remy looked upwards. "Will the 'Tigger Berry' stop that flying metal fist from smashing us to ratatouille?"

"Of course it will!" she went on. "All I have to do is time it right and- Hold on, what did you say?"

She lifted her eyes just in time to see the speeding fist a few feet away, but at the last second it spread its fingers, enveloped the rats and everything went black.

The panicked red rodent had closed her eyes, assuming the worst. "I'm dead ... I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I died, I'm dead ... Wait a minute ..."

She dared to crack one eyelid, glance around, then open the other. There wasn't much light, but her eyes adjusted as she began to examine the fingers of the massive fist that encased them with little, investigative sniffles.

"Did I ever tell you your mannerisms are adorable?" asked Remy.

"Huh? Uh, no, but it's a welcome complement," she responded, only half focusing on him before returning her attention to their surroundings. "This metal hand ... It's familiar somehow. I recognise the design from my travels, but I can't quite place it. If only I had a little more info to go on ..."

They wobbled as they briefly lost their balance when the metal hand connected with something.

[I have caught them, Hiro,] declared a synthetic voice.

The one to respond sounded considerably more human. "Good job, Baymax!"

* * *

 **As usual, thank you for reading! Aside from the obvious seagulls, was anyone able to pick out the more subtle Finding Nemo reference in this chapter? What do you think of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell joining the party? How do you think they will react to Hiro and Baymax?**


	7. Chapter 7: Big Heroes, Big Mouths

Chapter 7

Big Heroes, Big Mouths, Big Trouble

 **"IT'S THE BIG HERO 6!"** the red rat squealed, nearly dislocating Remy's forelimbs as she shook him in wild excitement. **"SOMEBODY PINCH ME! SOME. BODY. PINCH. MEEEEEE!"**

Baymax was a blip of red standing out against the expanse of blue sky, propelled by jet-powered feet and carrying the rodents between fingers curled into a fist.

"Pass them to me," instructed Hiro, clinging to the robot's back with his magnetic gloves.

Baymax followed the boy's request and Hiro raised the glass of his visor, popped the rats into the side of his helmet and closed it behind them before enjoying a breath of the female rodent's delightful aroma.

"Uh, does this register as awkward to you?" asked Remy.

"He's **Hiro!"** she promptly answered. _**"Nothing**_ he does registers to me as awkward!"

[I would not recommend placing the rodents in such close proximity to your face,] Baymax warned. [Such creatures are known to be unhygienic and carriers of diseases.]

Remy shrugged. "Well, to be fair, we _did_ come out of a sewer less than half an hour ago."

"I am aware of that, buddy," Hiro declared. "But Tadashi smells too **_good_** to be filthy!"

[Tadashi is not here,] Baymax declared.

Hiro digested that statement in a moment of silence, reminded of the loss of his big brother.

[I am sorry,] Baymax empathised. [Technically, Tadashi is here, although you cannot smell him. He is within my healthcare chip.]

"Yeah, I know: you're talking about all those recordings he made while designing you," Hiro went on. "I know that Tadashi isn't physically here, but being so close to this little rodent, all the memories, the _best_ memories of Tadashi come rushing back ... I don't know how to explain it, but it's almost as if this rodent actually _is_ Tadashi!"

But ... she _wasn't_ Tadashi, she thought. Even if she reminded him of his deceased brother, she could never fill Tadashi's shoes. Well, at least she could make Hiro happy for the time being ... right? She tried to rest assured in that thought, but all it did was get her gut churning with conflicted feelings. Was the Omega Aroma really a good idea? Of _course_ it was, she quickly told herself! It made people happy, and she'd had a lot of time to think about what she was doing when she made it. Once the cool down period ended, the negative side effects would be gone. The Aroma was a good thing, **full stop** ... _wasn't_ it? Oh boy. The sickening ambivalence was rearing its head again.

A short distance across the sky, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell watched the Big Heroes jetting into the distance.

"They're stealing our new victi- I mean _**friends!"**_ Tinker Bell protested. **_"Do_** **something, Peter!"**

"Did you see the _**biceps**_ on that tin can man?" asked Peter Pan. "Nuh uh! I didn't get to live over a century by being a dumb dumb. Let's cut our losses and head back to Neverland."

The fairy folded her arms and pouted. _"Hmph!_ You're almost starting to sound like a grownup."

Peter almost had a heart attack. **_"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"_**

With that, he soared after Hiro and Baymax with speed the likes of which she had never before seen. Tinkerbell struggled to keep up as Peter pursued Hiro and Baymax across the heavens, between buildings, above streets, over rivers like a ravenous hawk. They were above a park's pond when Peter nearly reached the unwitting boy and robot, drawing his knife as he thundered his signature cry:

 ** _*COCKLE DOODLE DOOOOOOOO!*_**

"Did you hear that?" asked Hiro.

Baymax abruptly stopped and hovered in place. Unable to react in time, Peter and Tinker Bell crashed into the robot's outstretched wings. Hiro felt the jerk, but by the time he looked around the boy and the fairy had already fallen off of Baymax's wings. He heard a splash and stared at the pond below, but Peter and Tinker Bell had disappeared beneath the surface.

"Uh, Baymax? Did something hit us just now?" Hiro inquired.

[Yes,] the robot stated simply. [My scanner indicates that it was a flying boy and a tiny winged woman.]

Hiro gave the robot a skeptical stare. _"Yeeeeaah_ ... that doesn't sound crazy at all. Not even a bit. Hey, buddy? Could you remind me to debug your system when we get back?"

[Of course, Hiro,] the robot passively agreed.

With that, Baymax jetted on. Seconds later, Peter and Tinker Bell resurfaced, sputtering and flailing.

"Th- **that's RIGHT *gag*!"** Peter yelled after Baymax. **"You *cough*** ** _BETTER_** **run, ya big ol' tin can o' codfish!"**

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'm ready to go home," announced a shivering Tinkerbell.

Meanwhile, Hiro radioed his team: "Hey guys, I think I've found the nexus of the global chemical reaction. How fast can you get to the meeting point?"

"Eons before _you_ do, that's for sure," GoGo responded.

Oh, so she was in _that_ kind of mood, huh? Not that he was complaining. A race was just what they needed to spice up the mission.

"Baymax, where is she?" asked Hiro.

[According to my scanner, she is roughly below us,] Baymax answered.

Hiro looked down to see the girl in yellow skating across the city for all she was worth. He shook his head.

"So sad," the boy commented. "I mean, _sure_ she's fast, but you know who's faster?"

Baymax raised his pointing finger as he answered: [Perhaps that little boy from The Incredibles?]

"What? **No!** _We're_ faster!" Hiro explained. "Step on it, buddy! We can beat her!"

[I cannot step on anything while in the air,] Baymax declared. [Would you like me to land?]

"It's just an expression," Hiro clarified. "It means go faster! _Way_ faster!"

[I understand,] the robot confirmed.

GoGo looked up to see Baymax and Hiro rocketing ahead of her with staggering speed. In spite of that, she grinned, skated up a wall and back flipped onto the power lines above the streets. Suddenly, her speed wasn't a matter of low friction skating anymore. Arcs of electricity snaked from the wires and across her wheels, creating electromagnet forces that propelled her across the power lines with ravenous speed. In seconds, she shattered the sound barrier and a sonic boom tore across the city.

"Just for laughs, how far back is GoGo?" Hiro asked with smug confidence in his voice.

[She is almost directly beneath us,] Baymax declared.

Hiro gagged on his own shock. **"W-** _ **what?!**_ "

He looked down and spotted a rush of electricity blazing across the power lines. Was that ... _GoGo?_

 **"PEDAL TO THE METAL!"** Hiro commanded.

Baymax looked around. [I do not see any pedals to-]

"I meant **speed up!"** clarified the boy.

With that, Baymax bulldozed the sonic barrier.

Hiro cast GoGo the occasional glance to gauge her progress. Unbelievable! She was even faster than Baymax! However, she had to follow the twists and turns of the streets while he and Baymax flew in a straight line. That got them a good distance ahead of her, until they were nearly above the virtually abandoned wrecking yard where the team had agreed to meet. Rather secluded, it afforded the perfect place to convene without drawing too much public attention.

Baymax dive with breakneck speed. Meagre seconds before he hit the ground, a death-defying yellow streak shot beneath him and he landed with a heavy thud. A cloud of dust fled his feet, veiling their surroundings. When the dust settled, there stood GoGo, arms folded as she blew a gum bubble and burst it with a victorious pop.

Hiro pointed at her, his finger shaking in shock. "H-how did ...?"

"Take it like a woman," GoGo commanded.

"But ... I saw you on the power lines!" Hiro gushed. "Your suit was converting the electricity into magnetic-driven kinetic energy! I didn't create it to do that!"

"That's 'cause I upgraded it," she explained with a smirk. "Face it, Genius. You're not the biggest brain on the team anymore."

"Actually, his I.Q. _is_ technically the highest," a new voice cut in.

Hiro and GoGo turned to see Wasabi approaching, using his arms to walk on green plasma blades extending from the gauntlets like stilts. The plasma blades smoothly withdrew and he was lowered to the ground.

Responding to Hiro's stunned stare, Wasabi explained: "Yup. I upgraded my blades to lengthen. When they're green, they function as forces similar to tractor beams. I can use them to lift objects besides myself, and they minimise the strain required to do so."

A shadow shot over their heads. Their eyes darted to its owner as he landed - Fred. However, the red rat scarcely noticed him. She was too fixated on a small, pink orb that dropped from from a mound of cars. It looked a lot like one of her "berries", albeit big enough for her to fit inside of it. Upon hitting the ground, it exploded into a glob of glowing amber substance that quickly turned turquoise before its light dimmed to nothing. Not a moment later, a girl in a pink super suit leaped from the top of the car mound and used the glob to cushion her fall.

Luckily, humans were deaf to the higher frequencies of a rats voice. If they weren't, Hiro probably would have lost half his hearing after the red rat's ear-piercing scream of ecstasy. Unfortunately, Remy's smaller, far more sensitive ears got the full brunt of it. After the first few seconds of screaming, all he could hear was white noise.

 **"IT'S HONEY LEMON!"** shrieked the female rodent.

 **"WHAT?!"** Remy shouted back.

 **"SHE'S MY ROLE MODEL!"** she explained.

 ** _"WHAAT?!"_** Remy repeated.

She looked at him with a note of realisation and remorse. "Oh ... I temporarily rendered you deaf with my screaming, didn't I? At least, I _hope_ it's temporary ..."

 **"I think you temporarily rendered me deaf with your screaming!"** Remy stated. **"Not that I'm complaining! There's no one who I'd rather be rendered deaf by!"**

"Sorry," she apologised, despite the fact that she knew he couldn't hear her.

 ** _"WHAAAAT?!"_** yelled Remy.

"Is there anyone here who **_hasn't_** upgraded their suit?" asked Hiro.

"Not me," Fred answered. "The others did it for me. Now I don't have to shout 'super jump' every time I want to activate that ability. Sure, I never had to shout it in the first place. I could have just said it quietly, but I _preferred_ to shout it. In fact, I just might keep shouting it anyway!"

GoGo rolled her eyes at Fred's childish antics before returning her attention to Hiro.

"You know ..." she began. "The only one on this team who hasn't got an upgrade is _you,_ Hiro."

The boy glanced about at his teammates self-consciously, before rubbing the back of his head with an awkward laugh.

"Heh heh. I always wondered what it would be like to be outdated," Hiro stated.

Suddenly, he lifted off the ground, drawing startled gasps from his friends. After hovering in place for a few seconds, he landed and shrugged.

"I guess I'll just have to keep on wondering," he declared.

 **"Mic drop, ha ha!"** the red rodent cheered.

GoGo pretended to be unimpressed. "So you ripped off Tony Stark? Big whoop."

"Where's the propulsion system?" asked Wasabi.

Hiro gestured their surroundings. "You're looking at it."

The team glanced around before exchanging confused stares.

"You're saying your propulsion system is the _wrecking yard?"_ asked Wasabi.

"Not the wrecking yard. The **_planet,"_** Hiro explained. "My suit manipulates and concentrates Earth's geomagnetic forces. Basically, I can hack the planet's magnetism."

"So you reinvented the concept of flight?" asked GoGo. "Big whoop."

She crossed her arms and looked away, keeping up the air of indifference. Then she broke character and cracked a grin before giving Hiro a chummy shove to the shoulder.

"Heh. Nice work, Genius," GoGo finally admitted. "So, you said you found the source of the global chemical reaction? Where is it?"

Hiro lifted his visor and pulled out the two rats, holding them in either hand.

Wasabi was flabbergasted. "Wait a minute ... there were **_rodents in your visor?_** Man, that's just **_nasty!"_**

Then red rat's perfume wafted into his nose.

 ** _"Whoa ho ho!"_** Wasabi exclaimed. "If that's the mice smelling like that, I can see where you're coming from. They smell like the definition of cleanliness, **times ten _million!_** Disinfectant, air-freshener, hand sanitiser ..."

"Okay, either we're living in two different universes, or you've got it all wrong," GoGo interrupted. "The rats clearly smell like kale salad, rare steaks and burnt tires."

Fred chipped in. "I'd say it's more of a taco-nacho combination with an undertone of freshly-bought comic books."

In Honey Lemon's opinion, the rats smelled more like her favourite bakery, among many other favourite things. That was the key word - 'favourite'. Clearly, this situation was more complicated than it seemed. For that reason, she didn't argue with the others. Instead she silently activated her suit's ChemiCalculator and analysed the rats. The blue rodent's chemistry was unremarkable, but the red rodent's? What she discovered shocked her.

"Uh, guys?" began an astonished Honey Lemon. "I ... I think you're _all_ right about what you smell. The red mouse is emanating an aroma that combines with the global chemical reaction for a polymorphic effect. It's almost like her scent shape shifts into whatever you like, or at least it _tricks_ your nose into smelling what you like. Honestly, it's more complex than anything I've every seen!"

Wasabi whistled in awe. "So you're saying this little guy _caused_ the global chemical reaction? What kind of mouse _is_ he?"

[That is not a mouse,] Baymax pointed out. [It is a rat. Furthermore, she is female.]

 **"THANK YOU!"** the red rat exclaimed.

"I'm not sure if she caused the reaction," Honey Lemon countered. "That would imply that she knew what she was doing, which would suggest vast intelligence. Maybe someone did this to her. Maybe ... Oh ... _Wow ..."_

"What?" asked Hiro.

"My ChemiCal is yielding further results," Honey Lemon explained. "The red rat is somehow channelling neurological signals through the atmosphere! The global chemical reaction is like a giant brain - _**her**_ brain. It's interfacing with every other brain that it touches!"

"Oooh! _Mind control!"_ Fred commented. "And so the plot thickens!"

"It's more subtle than outright mind control," Honey Lemon corrected. "But here's the spooky part. It's crazy, but perhaps ... perhaps we all knew to come to Paris because _she_ knew she was in Paris!"

"So you're saying she's smart? Like a human?" asked GoGo.

"If she created the chemical reaction, 'smart' doesn't cut it," Honey Lemon went on.

They took a moment to digest the ramifications, not even noticing the group that approached them.

"Then it's settled," Hiro declared. "We have to take these rats back to the lab for a thorough analysis."

"I don't know about that," came a new voice. "I'm sure the labs here in France are just as good."

The red rat froze.

That voice ... it instantly struck a chord of recognition. Several titles came to mind: 'Mom', 'Helen', 'Elastigirl', 'Mrs. Incredible'. Of course, they all belonged to the same person.

Everyone turned to see none other than The Incredibles and Frozone. Instead of freaking out the way she had upon meeting the Big Heroes, the red rat was calm yet the sight of them deeply warmed her heart.

In her quest to find the necessary ingredients for the Omega Aroma, she had spent some time on Nomanisan Island, scouring Syndrome's systems for useful chemical formulae. She didn't expect her mission to be much of a challenge. After all, who cared about a trespassing rat? Well, it turned out that he had a rather impressive pest control program in place. Nothing she couldn't handle. In fact, outfoxing his rodent countermeasures turned out to be a fun test of the mind. However, those involved in pest control slowly came to grips with the fact that this was no ordinary rodent. Their first hint? She wouldn't die. Their second? Her resourcefulness and occasional offensive use of chemistry. One particularly persistent pest hunter had an inkling that the mysterious, unauthorised user of employee computers and the rat were one and the same. They were dangerously close to zeroing in on her until The Incredibles arrived. Their focus shifted and so did hers. She observed the supers from afar and even tweaked fate behind the scenes to give them a better chance of victory. In her own small way, she liked to believe that she was saving the world with them ... as a family. It was a fundamentally absurd thought, but it soothed her lonely soul. Throughout the adventure, she had scarcely shown herself. They, in turn, had scarcely noticed her. However, they noticed her now.

Mr. Incredible's eyes were fixed on the rat in Hiro's hands. Somehow, she reminded him of the Glory Days when supers could be supers without fear of prosecution. She gave him hope that those days could return, but it was a strange, volatile hope. Knowing that it was somehow solely connected to her, he found himself fearing that it would disappear like a vapour the moment she left. Or, rather, the moment she was taken away by the Big Heroes. Not knowing how to navigate these complicated emotions, Mr. Incredible was glad when his wife began to do the talking.

"This phenomenon surrounding the rats occurred on French soil," Elastigirl continued. "We have liaisons here who can take the matter to the government. Given that this is a national concern, I'm sure the French would like to look into it first."

"It's not just a national concern," Hiro corrected. "The red rat is part of a _global_ chemical reaction. Our lab in San Fransokyo is second to none. We've got the situation under control."

"And should we remind you of the legal standing of 'supers'?" asked a confrontational GoGo. "I'm not so sure the French would be happy to see you here."

"Oh really?" asked Elastigirl. "Well, if we're in hot water, so are you. We're all supers here."

"Technically, a 'super' is defined as an individual possessing inhuman powers," Wasabi stated. "The only 'powers' we've got are our brains."

"So basically you're a pack of nerds?" asked Dash. **"Ha!** ** _Burn!"_**

GoGo smirked. "Cute. You know what? You're right. We should step down and let the authorities handle this. **Oh!"** She snapped her fingers as if in realisation. _"That's_ right! You don't **have** any authority! You're not even supposed to **_be_** here! The situation is in our capable hands, so **quit whining and** ** _woman up!_** Let's go, guys."

The Big Heroes winced at GoGo's abrasive manner. Nonetheless, they followed her as she leisurely began to skate away, until ...

 _*Whoosh!*_

A rush of wind and GoGo's hands were empty. She and her friends turned to see the rats held by a very smug Dash.

 **"Oops!** I thought you said the situation was in your hands," the boy mocked. "You musta dropped it."

Without warning, GoGo threw her maglev discs and they sandwiched the rats between them before returning to their owner. Understandably, the rodents' heads were spinning with an acute case of motion sickness after that.

 ** _"Cool!_** I mean, **HEY!"** Dash exclaimed.

A stream of frost shot over his head and the Big Heroes were engulfed in rock-solid ice, with the exception of GoGo's hands holding the rats. The Incredibles stared at the responsible Frozone, who merely shrugged.

"What can I say? That girl was really starting to chip at my chill," Frozone explained.

A cobweb of cracks exploded across the ice before Baymax's rocket fist shattered through it, narrowly missing the supers.

 **"You could have hit the baby!"** Elastigirl snarled.

Baymax's fist hovered back to his wrist as he explained: [That shot was calculated so as to avoid hitting the baby.]

"Played like a true hero," Mr Incredible commended. "That's why we're giving you one more warning. Stand down. We're taking the rodents."

 **"And** ** _we're_** **taking you to SCHOOL!"** GoGo roared.

Elastigirl hastily handed Jack Jack to Frozone. Knowing her thought process, he quickly put the baby down and surrounded him in a protective dome like a mini igloo. That was about all he could do before GoGo's disc came hurtling at him, but he casually raised a hand and summoned a pillar of ice for a shield. The disc bounced off and before it even returned to GoGo, Frozone was forcing her to dance and weave as he cast frosty flurries with a vengeance. Narrowly avoiding his attacks, GoGo retreated. He gave chase and the two skaters disappeared into the wrecking yard.

 **"This has gone too far! Let's be _reasonable!"_** Helen argued.

 **"CIVIL WAR!"** Fred cheered heedlessly.

Elastigirl smacked her palm against her face. "This isn't a 'Civil War'! We're not even on the same tea- **Force field! NOW!"**

Violet surrounded her allies in a bubble barrier that quenched Fred's incoming fire breath.

Even as GoGo exchanged frenetic attacks with Frozone, the rats in her hands heard the din of technology clashing with super powers as the two teams converged in an all-out brawl. Guilt flickered in the red rat's mind. She knew that she had caused this, but there were more pressing matters to ponder for the time being. The simple fact was that a couple of rats probably couldn't survive this kind of battle for long.

They had to get out of there!

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Yeah, we all know Baymax's "Tadashi is here" line, but I think he meant that quite literally for numerous reasons. When he said what he said in the above chapter, I gave you the gist of that theory (although Hiro misinterpreted it).**

 **By the way, Gogo's power line-skating upgrade wasn't entirely my idea. You can see her in Big Hero 6 concept art skating across what appears to be power lines. I don't think the power lines made her faster per se, but I decided to take the concept a step further and turn it into a new ability.**

 **I hope you find this interesting. Review and let me know how you feel. Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Incredible Battle

Chapter 8

The Incredible Battle of the Big Heroes

In the midst of GoGo Tomago's high-speed combat, the rats in her hands conversed.

"We ... have-to ... get-clear-of ... the- **battle!"** the raspberry rat declared, speaking quickly between the jerks and turns that interrupted her.

"Say ... no-more!" Remy responded.

He dealt GoGo's fingers a sharp nip, but she didn't even react.

"That-usually ... works," he stated in perplexity.

The red rat explained. "Her-armour ... protected-by ... electromagnetic-shielding!"

Aside from that, being dropped by GoGo as she moved at such dangerous speeds did not seem like the best of ideas. There was little they could do except hang tight, wait for her to stop moving and see what they could do from there.

It seemed GoGo had bitten off a bit more than she could chew. Frozone had superior fire power (counter intuitive choice of words) and he made every effort to prove it by attempting to freeze her solid. Not to mention his skating ability made him almost as fast as she was, albeit when she wasn't using her power line trick.

"You've evaded me so far. I'm impressed," Frozone complemented as he continued his onslaught. "You don't seem to be retaliating much, though. **Ah!** I see your problem! Your hands are full! Why don't you pass those rats to me? Maybe then you'll at least stand a chance."

GoGo ducked a particularly massive plume of frosty power before responding amid the dodging. "Did it occur to you that freezing me will also turn the rats into popsicles?"

"Yeah, it did," Frozone confirmed before hurling her an icy blast. "That's why I'm aiming for your lower body. It's a little thing called 'tactic'."

With that, he blocked her path with a pillar of ice. However, she made no effort to stop. Instead, she charged up the pillar's side and back flipped off the surface. The way she pulled back her arm midair ... it almost looked like she was about to throw a disc. At that angle? With no footing? Holding the _rats?_ She _wouldn't,_ Frozone thought. She'd have to be _mad_ to attempt a dangerously awkward stunt like tha-

The next thing he knew, GoGo's disc was rushing for his head. With a wave of a hand, he froze it and it dropped out of the air. However, the surprise was enough to make him stumble off his icy path. GoGo smirked to herself as he hit the ground with a disgruntled grunt.

"How's that for 'tactic'?" she teased, before rushing off the scene.

GoGo had every intention of reentering the battle, but she couldn't fight at her best with the rats in her hands. She needed to pass the baton.

The girl in yellow abruptly pulled up in front of a startled Honey Lemon.

"Stash the rats in your purse," GoGo commanded. "I need my hands free."

"Okie dokie," Honey Lemon agreed.

GoGo tossed the rats to her teammate and Honey Lemon opened up a compartment in her purse before shoving them into the rather tight space.

"You know," Remy began, "with all the man-handling and what not, I'm starting to wonder if they want us to actually be _alive_ at the end of this."

Honey Lemon looked around as GoGo darted off. It seemed the supers were busy, which meant that they hadn't seen GoGo transfer the rats to her. Good. The last thing she needed was five supers ganging up on her. Unlike GoGo, she didn't quite have the speed or agility to evade them. Then she spotted Elastigirl staring straight at her. It seemed Mrs. Incredible didn't have a sparring partner, which meant that Honey Lemon was the most viable target. Hopefully, she at least didn't know that the rats were in the Big Hero's purse.

"Let's not make this more unpleasant than it needs to be," Elastigirl suggested. "Just hand them over."

Oh great.

Seeing that Honey Lemon had no intention of surrendering, Mrs. Incredible raised her fists in preparation for battle.

 **"Wait!"** shouted Honey Lemon. "Before we do this, I have a question. I don't get how your powers work."

Elastigirl blinked in confusion. "I stretch. What's there to get?"

"Yeah, but the _way_ you stretch doesn't seem to make sense," Honey Lemon went on. "Your minimum thickness is 1 milimetre, which should make your maximum length 30 metres. However, your National Supers Agency file said you can stretch approximately '300 feet', which translates as about 90 metres - that's **_3 times farther than you're supposed to stretch!_**

"Forgive me, I'm a chemistry enthusiast, and when I see a material with seemingly inexplicable properties, it bugs me, like, **_forever_** unless I figure out how it works. Luckily, I'm sure you have the answer, right? ... **_Right?"_**

Elastigirl was at a loss.

 **"Arrgh!** You don't know either, **_do_ you?" **Honey Lemon exclaimed.

Elastigirl chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. I've been wondering about that myself. I'd like to go the Batman route and say 'It's because I'm Elastigirl', but that kind of answer makes my sense of logic feel to throwy-uppy, heh."

There was a brief, vaguely pleasant but nonetheless awkward pause.

"So ... is there any chance of us not fighting?" asked Honey Lemon.

"Is there any chance of you giving us the rats?" countered Mrs. Incredible.

"Sorry, there's really not," was Honey Lemon's sheepish answer.

"Well then, there's your answer," Elastigirl responded. "My apologies. I'm going to knock you out now."

Honey Lemon shrugged soberly. "Fine. You can _try,_ but I'm not gonna make it easy for- **EEEEP!"**

Elastigirl's fist had come like a slingshot and Honey Lemon ducked, feeling the knuckles glance off her helmet. Luckily, she had upgraded her suit with contractile fibres that mirrored the motion of her muscles. The result? It made her stronger and faster than ever. However, even her newfound speed was barely enough to dodge a single punch from Elastigirl. Could she evade a second hit? She didn't care to find out.

By the time Elastigirl's fist withdrew, Honey Lemon had already punched the desired chemical combination into her purse's keypad. Her bag produced a light-blue chem ball and she sprang to a stand before throwing it a short distance ahead of her. Upon hitting the ground, it burst into a smokescreen and she was hidden from Elastigirl's vision.

Honey Lemon quickly switched on her ChemiCal. Like Baymax's scanner, it could do more than serve its primary purpose. Now, it acted as an extension of her vision, piercing the smoke and highlighting the super on her visor's display.

"Gotcha," Honey Lemon proclaimed.

Elastigirl was startled to see several chem balls emerge from the smokescreen, perfectly aimed at her. With a stretching step, she evaded them all ... except one, which froze her foot in a colourful, crystalline substance.

Mrs. Incredible frowned at her trapped, outstretched leg, but the stretch had already taken far enough sideways to see around Honey Lemon's smokescreen.

"This is awkward," the exposed Big Hero commented.

Honey Lemon quickly threw a few more smoke bombs just before Elastigirl unleashed a melee of stretching jabs and swings. Sure, Elastigirl couldn't see her, but that by no means made it easy to duck, dive and roll clear of Mrs. Incredible's blind strikes.

Wait a minute ... Honey Lemon realised that she didn't have to stay _behind_ the smokescreens. She could hide _inside_ of them! Excited by that revelation, she forgot to take note of what Elastigirl was doing. The Big Hero stepped into a smoke bomb and armed herself with a chem ball just as Mrs. Incredible stretched through the cloud, torso first, tackling the Big Hero her like a footballer. However, when something encased the super's waist, she lost focus on her stretching and released the Big Hero as her body snapped back to its original dimensions ... or so it tried.

Elastigirl looked back and found her abdomen held in place by more of Honey Lemon's crystalline chemicals. Apparently the Big Hero had dropped the chem ball during the tackle. It was probably a 'happy accident', not that Elastigirl was jumping for joy. This situation brought back way too many annoying memories of the 'Hall-With-Multiple-Doors Incident' on Nomanisan Island.

"I've rendered you _immobile!"_ Honey Lemon announced as she bounced on her toes with a squee. "I think I just **won!"**

"And _I_ think I'm still **_elastic!"_ **Elastigirl reminded with a wry smile.

Honey Lemon's smile quickly dissipated.

The Big Hero popped a chem ball from her purse, but that was all she could do before Mrs. Incredible seized the bag. With one hand, Honey Lemon pulled her purse as Mrs. Incredible retracted her arm, reeling in the bag like a fish on a hook. With the other hand, Honey Lemon tossed her chem ball and subsequently released the purse. Elastigirl's arm quickly retracted, but it did not get far. The chem ball's crystalline bloom had grown around it, leaving her elbow protruding with the Chem Purse still hanging from her hand.

Honey Lemon skipped to Elastigirl's arm and plucked her purse from it.

"Yup," she declared. "I _definitely_ won this one."

The Big Hero's brow creased as Elastigirl's arm began to stretch and feel about until it landed on her face. Honey Lemon yelped as the entire arm wrapped around her like an anaconda, holding her to the crystalline surface.

"Okay, so it's a tie then," stated a disappointed Honey Lemon.

Within the Chem Purse, the rats groaned in discomfort, having been bounced about by Honey Lemon's motions.

"She _finally_ stopped moving!" Remy cheered. "Now I can nibble us out of here! Hold on a sec."

The red rat drew a sharp gasp. **"NO! You _can't_ damage the Chem Purse! It's a miracle of technology!"**

Remy chuckled. "You know, normally I'd say you're being _slightly_ , **_absurdly_** petty, but I can't say that because of the mind contro- I mean 'mind _convincing'!"_

"Well, you _kinda_ just said it anyway," the raspberry rat commented as she removed a Joy Berry from her purse.

The light of the berry quickly banished the darkness, allowing them to better examine their surroundings. With a paw to her chin, that's exactly what she did.

"What are you looking for?" asked Remy.

"I've spent some time in Honey Lemon's lab," the female rodent explained. "If I remember anything about her purse, there should be a discrete button that opens the chem chamber _right abouuut_ ... **here!"**

She pushed the button and a hatch opened beneath the rat's feet, dropping them into a short tunnel that brought to mind a miniature assembly line. The mouth of the tunnel was opened to the outside world and the rats promptly leapt out of it, scampering off.

"H- **hey!"** Honey Lemon protested.

Remy paused to give Honey Lemon a gentleman's bow before the red rat pulled his paw and he fell into step beside her in a run.

The Big Hero (uncomfortably) pushed her temple against her shoulder, putting pressure on the button that activated her helmet's radio. "Uh, guys? The rats ... um ... they kind of escaped."

The news was met with a chorus of disappointed groans.

"All you had to do was _babysit_ them!" GoGo chastised. "It's not rocket science!"

"I know, I'm really sorry!" Honey Lemon repeated.

Meanwhile, Dash had darted onto the scene and noticed his mother encased in chem ball crystals.

 _"Whoa!"_ he exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"Long story," Mrs. Incredible stated dismissively. "Anyway, Sweetie, could you please help me out of this? I think I know how to dissolve the crystals with-"

"Wait-wait, hold on," Dash interrupted in a low voice. "I think the Big Hero's whispering something."

He ran a little closer to Honey Lemon, remaining hidden behind the crystals against which his mother's arm held her.

Honey Lemon gave a suggestion: "Maybe you can use Baymax's scanner to track the rats?"

"His scanner's not designed for rodent-sized creatures," Hiro stated. "At least, not unless they're a sneeze's distance from him."

"And sneezes travel far, but not _that_ far," Wasabi (of course) added.

"Okay, no biggie. You guys can link up to my ChemiCal with your H.U.D.s," Honey Lemon suggested. "It will allow you to zero in on the red rat based on her fragrance. GoGo, you're the fastest. Could you maybe-?"

"Already on it," declared GoGo.

Not a moment later, the girl in yellow armour shot by.

"So her name is _GoGo ..."_ Dash mumbled. "Uh, Mom, I'll be right back!"

With that, he darted after her.

 **"SWEETIE!"** Elastigirl shouted after him. **"You can't _LEAVE_ me here!"**

He could, and he did.

Just beyond the wrecking yard, the rats galloped onto the street.

"Any destination in mind?" asked Remy.

 _"Anywhere_ but here!" the red rodent declared.

They were heading for a storm drain at the street's edge when GoGo emerged from the wrecking yard in hot pursuit. They only needed a moment to reach the drain, but GoGo only needed a second to snatch them up.

Neither party had that much time.

A scarlet blur rushed before GoGo and the rats disappeared, leaving her to grab at air. She glanced a few yards to her right and spotted Dash with the rodents in his hands and an impish grin on his face. Unfortunately, Dash was a child, and children don't always handle small animals with care.

 **"OW! My _FLESH!_ My _BONES!_ My _ORGANS!"_** the red rat screamed in response to his tight grip. **"He's _SQUISHING_ my upper body! REMY! _BITE_ him! Bite him QUICK! My neck's jammed and I'm helpless!"**

 **"I'mm im no positiom tuh bite himm eifer!"** Remy declared, his voice stifled by the boy's fingers.

"You know," Dash began, "for someone whose name is 'GoGo', you're kinda ..."

She interrupted by rushing him, but he casually zipped out of the way.

"... slow," Dash went on, finishing his sentence.

GoGo's jaw almost dropped, but she managed to compose herself before that embarrassment could transpire.

"You know what?" she began. "Maybe, just _maybe_ , you **are** faster. But _I've_ got something you **_don't!"_**

On the word 'don't', she pelted him a mag lev disc. He gasped, dropped the rats and barely managed to react in time, sliding back slightly as he caught the disc.

"Not _anymore_ you don't!" Dash mocked.

This time, GoGo's jaw dropped, but it didn't take her long to get herself together once again. She extended her hand and Dash felt the disc pulling out of his grip as it attempted to return to her. **No!** He wanted to be 'cool' and throw it back to her like the Winter Soldier! Dash gripped the disc and pulled back with all his might. However, he was forced to let go and duck when GoGo sent her other disc spinning his way.

In a fraction of a second, the disc that Dash stole had reunited with GoGo. In that same fraction of a second, he too had reached her. His tiny body slammed into GoGo and she found herself on the ground.

 **"Ha ha!** _**Pinned** _**ya!"** Dash triumphantly proclaimed.

She calmly lifted her hand so that it was right in front of his chest.

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you-?"

Not a second later, her other disc had returned to her hand. It didn't care about the fact that Dash was between it and its destination, so it simply rammed through him, knocking him off of her.

"As if you could have held me down anyway," GoGo taunted. "What do you weigh? Like, five pounds?"

Dash growled before charging her head on, only for GoGo's discs to send him scrambling. He noticed how she generally made sure to fire the discs one at at time, always waiting for one to return before launching the next one an instant later. He watched as her attacks became tighter, and her arcs adapted to his movements. Dodging her was easy at first, but she was learning fast. He would have had less trouble if he didn't have his own little agenda. He didn't want to simply defeat her; he wanted to do it in **_style._**

Finally, GoGo got a little too confident and bombarded Dash with both discs. With a burst of effort and an once of luck, he managed to snatch them out of the air before whirling at GoGo with them as his melee weapons. At that kind of speed, she expected him to knock her out before she could finish her gasp. However, his disc-armed hands stopped an inch from impact. His lips curled in a grin as he thought he saw her face pale under her helmet.

"How many times do I have to prove that **I'm** the fastest?" asked Dash.

GoGo masked her shock with a huff, though she didn't dare move for fear that it would prompt him to finish the attack. Clearly, it was time to try some new moves and upgrades.

"You are an _incredibly_ competitive boy," GoGo remarked.

"So I've been told," Dash replied with a cocky grin.

"Too bad you're a bit of a showoff," she followed up.

At GoGo's command, the discs violently vibrated in Dash's hands. Just as they dislodged themselves from his fingers and flew back to her, GoGo swept a kick at his legs. He hopped over it with a yelp and zipped away before returning in a 200mph charge. However, the boy halted that charge when GoGo swung her arms clockwise, releasing the discs so that they swirled around her like planets in orbit. He didn't know how to get past them without getting hit, but she didn't give him the time to find an opening. She sharply shoved her hands to the side and the discs expanded their orbit, causing him to back off.

He zoomed to her blind side. It wasn't hard to figure out that he was going to attack her from behind. Without even looking at him, GoGo summoned a disc and tossed it backwards.

 **"Yipe!"** he exclaimed, confirming the accuracy of her aim.

The boy blurred around her, attempting to confuse her before rushing in again. It was his turn to drop his jaw as she somersaulted over him, their eyes briefly making contact as she sailed overhead. The sight of her newfound, unflappable smile asserted that she was now in control.

GoGo's discs returned as her skates hit the ground before she tore after Dash. Fighting him took everything she had and then some. Her tricky moves were vital, but they weren't enough. She had to project an air of calm confidence that kept him off-balanced, because if he exercised just a _little_ more tactic, she knew she would be done for. From here on, she could never let him see that he got to her. Every micro-moment was a challenge, and though this was perhaps the toughest fight of GoGo's life, the adrenaline junkie inside her loved every second of it!

The speedsters were a storm of motion and the rats didn't quite know where to run. It seemed any move they made heightened the risk of getting squished under foot or skate. Then again, they may not have been any safer in their current position either.

"You're gonna get crushed if we don't get you out of here!" Remy declared as he looked for a way out.

"I know, I know!" agreed the red rat. "If only there were a way to keep them at bay long enough to- **Aha!"**

She plucked two chemical spheres from her crossbody bag. At first glance, they both resembled Joy Berries, but closer inspection revealed one to be quite different. Embedded in its red mass were bubbles of luminous amber like embers. Unlike the Joy Berry, it didn't react with the air to create flecks of blue that floated from the top. Instead, it spat bits of yellow that danced through the air, indistinguishable from shining ashes. The light it cast was more than a glow - it was a _burn._

"That's ... not a 'Joy Berry', is it?" asked Remy, noting the aggressive radiance.

She shook her head. "More like an 'Anger Berry'."

First, she threw the Joy Berry and it burst like a firecracker. The speedsters quickly stopped as it got their attention. Good. Now she didn't have to worry a accidentally hitting them with her next move. Upon being tossed, the Anger Berry erupted into a column of flame. She threw a few more and created a ring of fire around herself and Remy, keeping the super heroes from reaching them. Wasting no time, she pulled out an orange sphere with black stripes and threw it to the ground. Once it grew into a blob about three times their size, she hopped onto it and began to roll around.

 **"Quick!** Cover yourself in it head-to-toe!" she commanded.

He followed her lead and rolled in it as he asked: "What is it?"

"Tigger Berry," she explained. "It's my adaptation of the Flubber Formula."

"Flubber?" asked an incredulous Remy. "Isn't that stuff from the Robin Williams movie?"

"I don't know who 'Robin Williams' is, but flubber's as real as we are," she declared.

By the time they removed themselves from the glob, it had turned their fur orange with its light film. Much to Remy's surprise, several black stripes appeared across his body."

"When the stripes run out, your bounce wears off," she explained. "Don't do anything crazy on the last stripe!"

He cocked his head. "Bounce?"

 **"Follow me!"** she commanded.

With that, she hopped into the air. It wasn't an impressive leap, but when she hit the ground and hopped again, her jump was a whopping five feet higher. Repeating the process, she bounced further into the air.

 **"Cool!** " Remy declared before bouncing himself.

Dash and GoGo could only gawk as the rats sprang higher and higher. Once they were a few storeys up, they disappeared onto a nearby rooftop.

 **"Whoa!"** Dash exclaimed. **"They're _supers!"_**

Taking advantage of his distraction, GoGo rushed in, grabbed him and the next thing he knew, he was hanging on a streetlight by his costume's external underwear.

"And _that's_ why we wear them _inside_ our suits, Captain Underpants," GoGo mocked.

Thoroughly miserable, Dash flailed his limbs in a humiliating attempt to get free.

 **"No _faaaaiiir!"_ **the boy whined.

GoGo chuckled and opened her mouth to taunt him further, but she was interrupted by a burst of frosty mist. When the mist cleared, she was held in place my a mass of ice with only the exception of her face. A figure approached at the side of her eye, swaggering as if he were the chillest cat in town. She couldn't turn to get a better look, but she could practically feel the smug emanating from him. The fact that he accentuated his entry with a rain of fluttering snowflakes didn't help.

"Lu- I mean **Frozone!"** Dash chirped in excitement.

The icy super chuckled as he removed the boy from the street light.

"Thanks, Zone!" Dash exclaimed. "And for the record, she **_cheated!_** I was distracted and she just swooped in and-"

Frozone raised his hands as if to say 'I understand'.

"It's cool," he declared. "I know how aggravating she can be, but we won't have to worry about that anymore, ain't that right Missy?"

GoGo simply scowled.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go find the rats," Dash declared. "Later!"

"Take care of yourself ..." Frozone began, but Dash was already gone. "... Speedo ..."

Frozone casually leaned against the chunk of ice that served as GoGo's prison. Luckily, she had a plan: to escape by vibrating her discs until the ice fell apart around her. However, that would have taken a little time. If she did it with present company, he would remedy the situation by fabricating a glacier on top of her. So, she waited for him to leave, but a few moments passed and he was still there. Okay, maybe a 'few moments' hadn't quite passed yet, but for someone like her who liked life in the fast lane, a long moment felt especially long. She rolled her eyes. Had he seen through her poker face and predicted her escape? Was he was trying to rub her defeat in her face? If so, it was working on both counts, but apparently it wasn't enough for him. He decided to treat her to a little verbal mockery.

"You're pretty quiet," Frozone began. "Giving me the ol' cold shoulder? I can't imagine why."

She growled in response and he chortled in amusement.

"Well, let's face it: you had this coming," Frozone declared as he stretched and rested his arms behind his head. "There's no shame in being beat by Frozone, so just chill and enjoy the frostbi- **YOW!"**

Frozone barely managed to roll out of the way as a torrent of flame crashed into GoGo, instantly melting the ice.

"Actually, I think she's just _warming up!"_ declared Fred as he emerged from the smoke of his fire breath. **"Whoa!** That comeback was _so_ awesome!"

GoGo was a few notches short of livid. **"FRE- 'FLAME JUMPER'! You could have _KILLED_ me! I had a _plan,_ I was gonna-** You know what? Never mind. Thanks for the help."

"No prob," he declared. "I'll take it from here."

She gave a quick nod and skated away, intent on getting to the rats before Dash did. That left Frozone to to size up his new adversary and, frankly, he couldn't take Fred seriously in that kaiju getup.

"Cool it, kiddo," Frozone suggested. "I was living in the line of fire when you were in diapers."

"And I've been _reading_ about you since I was in diapers," Fred countered.

Frozone blinked in confusion. "Reading ... about me?"

"Yeah! Comic books, dude!" Fred explained. "I know all the ins and outs of Ice Man, Mr. Freeze, Captain Cold, Killer Frost, you name it! If I know a thing or two about _them,_ I know a thing or two about _you._ "

Frozone was not amused. "Do I **_look_** like a comic book character to you?"

"Uh ... sorta, yeah," Fred stated. "But if you squint you also look a little like Samuel L. Jackson. Then again, he's not too far from the wonderful world of comics either. I'm referring, of course, to the Avengers franchise where he filled the role of Nick ..."

"Oh brother. Here we go with the monologuing," Frozone groaned with a palm to his face. "Look, man, if it's all the same to you, can we just get on with it?"

Fred clasped his hands reverence. "It would be my honour."

Frozone's arm shot up and he launched a stream of ice with gunslinger speed. Much to his surprise, Fred managed to activate his fire breath in the nick of time. Their powers collided, freezing and burning their surroundings with splashes of cold and heat in a vicious cycle. Bit by bit, Fred's flames pushed back Frozone's frost. However, it was all part of Frozone's ruse: make the kid think that he was winning and then turn the tables before he could blink. Once the flames were a few feet from the super, he enacted his plan, raised both hands and released a combined stream from them, quickly bulldozing Fred's fire.

"Uh oh ..." Fred commented.

He super jumped and the frost rushed beneath him.

 **"Gravity Crush!"** Fred shouted as he belly flopped towards Frozone.

In a series of quick hand movements, the super crafted a miniature mountain of ice in the Big Hero's path. No sooner had it been created before an amber glow seeped through it and Fred's flames came blasting from the other side.

 **"WHOA!"** Frozone exclaimed as he dove out of the way, leaving Fred to come crashing down where he stood in a bloom of flames.

Frozone had to admit it: this cloud cuckoo lander seemed to _actually_ know what he was doing! He decided to stop underestimating him and employ some strategy.

Channelling his power into the ground, Frozone covered the street in a sheet of ice. Fred slipped and fell, scarcely hitting the ground before an frosty blast came sweeping at him. Thinking quickly, he used his fire breath to jet-slide out of the way, ending up tumbling off of the ice and into a car. He quickly hopped behind the vehicle and pressed his foot against it.

"Super _Jump_ means Super **_Kick!"_** Fred declared as he launched the car towards Frozone with a shove of the foot.

Frozone smirked before unleashing a tsunami of arctic fury that swept up Fred's car and a road full of other vehicles as it raged towards the Big Hero.

 _"Awwesooome!"_ Fred gawked before narrowly super jumping over the tsunami and retaliating with a shower of flame. **"Megaton Rainfall!"**

* * *

Wasabi jogged across the sidewalk, carefully examining his immediate surroundings. For the most part, the streets were empty after word got out that the super heroes were fighting. Of course, there were a few stragglers, people who didn't get the memo and the odd guy who chose to make snapshots and videos instead of running. One such guy was right across the road, leaning on his car as he followed Wasabi's movements with his phone.

The Big Hero stopped running and turned his attention to the man. "Uh, dude? This area isn't safe, you should probably skedaddle."

Ignoring him, the man continued to record Wasabi.

"What are you _waiting f_ or?" asked Wasabi.

"I dunno, something amazing, I guess," the man answered.

Realising that he was making no headway with the civilian, Wasabi returned his attention to tracking the rats. At least there weren't any Incredibles in sight. The civilian wouldn't have to worry about a battle, for the moment.

"Now, where are you, little guys?" Wasabi muttered.

According to the ChemiCal, the rats were close but somehow not showing up on the H.U.D. Then he looked up and the ChemiCal highlighted them on the roofs. They appeared to be ... _bouncing_ from building to building?

 _"Whaaa-?"_ exclaimed a confused Wasabi.

He took a step back and bumped into something unseen.

"Ow!" said the 'something' before restoring its visibility, revealing itself to be Violet.

"Oh, hi," Wasabi greeted with an awkward wave. "I'm, uh ... Captain ... _Laser Hands?"_

"Hello," she responded. "I'm ... Ultraviolet ... I guess."

"Wow," commented Wasabi. "Your on-the-spot name is way cooler than mine."

"Thanks," she replied.

There was an uncomfortable pause before Wasabi slowly raised his fists in a hesitant combat stance. She furrowed her brow as her eyes glanced between his face and his fists, as if to ask 'and what are you gonna do with those?'

Wasabi lowered his fists in defeat before activating his radio. **_"Guuuuys!_** I bumped into one of the Incredible kids! I _can't_ hit a little girl! That's **child abuse!** And **WHAT** am I supposed to hit her with? **_Laser-induced plasma?"_**

 ** _"Hey!"_** Violet protested. "I'm not a 'little girl'. I'm a **_teenager!"_**

GoGo and Dash darted onto the scene, the Big Hero doing her best to fend off his speedy little fists with a disc for a shield.

"For the _billionth_ time, **woman up!"** GoGo snapped as she managed to grab Dash with one arm and noogie him with the other. "Just knock her out! **_I'm_** fighting a little boy and **_no one_** has a problem with it!" she turned her attention to Dash with mockery in her voice. "You don't have a problem with it, right Incrediboy?"

"Yeah, so long as I ** _win!"_** Dash replied. "And **don't** call me Incrediboy! That name has bad history with my family! It's right up there with the **curse words!"**

With that, Dash vibrated until she was forced to let him go. He rushed away and GoGo followed, leaving Wasabi and Violet to settle things on their own.

"Uh, I'm sorry," Wasabi apologised. "I think I'm going to have to fight you, but I'll try to knock you out ... _softly?"_

"Well, congratulations on your easy victory!" Violet commended with a slow clap and sardonic tone. "Bravo, taking down a girl who has no offensive capabilities whatsoever."

"Man, now I feel like a big bully," Wasabi whined. "You know what? Let's just walk away, forgetting that we ever saw each other."

Wasabi turned to leave but Violet quickly stepped in front of him.

"What are you ...? I thought you said you couldn't face me in a fair fight," Wasabi reminded.

"Yup," she confirmed.

"Then could you please excuse me?" he asked.

"Nope," she declared. "I'm going to just keep standing in your way, _knowing_ that if you raise a hand against me, you'll **never** forgive yourself!"

He stared at her, jaw slack. "Wow. That's ingenious, devious and even a little ill-advised. Are you sure you can't fight me?"

She created a small force bubble above her hand to demonstrate. "All I've got are force fields and invisibility. The force fields can get bigger and smaller, but other than that they're pretty much stationary, harmless and-"

She threw her arms to the side, gesturing to accentuate her words.

*( ptOOwm )*

That movement had sent the mini force field flying off of her hand. It expanded and flattened into a crescent shape before slicing straight through a vehicle.

Upon seeing his car destroyed, the man with the smartphone screamed: **"MY WATERMELON!"**

Wasabi stared at the car in startled silence, and perhaps a little confusion at the civilian's random exclamation. Then he shifted his gaze to Violet, whose face mirrored his surprise.

"Heh, would you believe me if I said I only discovered that power just now?" asked a sheepish Violet.

Wasabi shrugged. "Maybe, but either way I feel a lot less like a bully. Ready to dance?"

"Fine," Violet conceded.

She swept her hand as if swatting a fly, firing a force bubble of hopefully non-lethal speed. Much to her surprise, her bubble was reduced to a burst of sparks as Wasabi met it with a plasma blade.

She stared at him in incredulity.

"What? You didn't expect me to get past the first hit?" asked the Big Hero.

"Um, well, don't take this the wrong way," Violet fumbled. "It's just that I've seen your team on the news. You seem to get the job done, but I didn't think you were all that, uh … 'big league'."

"Oh, it is **_on!"_** Wasabi declared.

He charged and she released an onslaught of force bubbles. With blazing-fast reflexes, he disintegrated every projectile before it reached him. The effort slowed him down for a moment, but she was shocked to see him begin to accelerate in spite of her attack.

Once he got to her, there was an awkward moment as he balked at the idea of throwing a punch. That pause gave her more than enough time to disappear and get clear. Oh, great. So he couldn't see her, **_and_** he didn't have the heart to land a hit.

His ears caught the hum of an approaching force field. He spun with a **"Ha!"** and obliterated it with a blade, before being bumped by another force field to the back. He managed to keep his feet beneath him, but the force fields mobbed him from every side, bouncing him between them as if he were a pinball. In a burst of bladed blows, he managed to fend off the projectiles just long enough to spot a fire hydrant on the sidewalk. Perfect! Taking advantage of his upgrade, he elongated a blade and it sliced the fire hydrant from afar, launching a spray of water into the air. He did his best to look around as he repelled more attacking force fields. **_Aha!_** Violet remained invisible, but the droplets that pattering against her did a good job of outlining her form.

Wasabi rushed the girl with haphazard steps as he tore through the force fields and the next thing Violet knew, his fist was hovering in front of her face. Her eyes were wide as she reappeared, prompting a good-natured smile from Wasabi.

"Let's call it a truce?" asked the Big Hero.

Violet managed to smile back as she slowly pushed away his fist.

"Well, you won that round," she declared, "but I can't say I was wasn't holding back. Care for another go?"

"Ugh, not really," groaned Wasabi. "But to be honest, I wasn't trying my hardest either."

She furrowed her brow with a confident smirk.

Scarcely a split-second later, Wasabi found himself hurtling through the air. He had noticed the force field flicker around her, but by that time it was already expanding with blinding speed. When it reached him, he was knocked into the sky with ferocious force. Luckily, his armour created an electromagnetic field that shielded him head to toe, otherwise, well ... He didn't want to think about what would have happened.

Wasabi sprouted his blue blades and they turned green before extending to the ground like grappling hooks, hauling him back towards Violet in an attempted flying kick. Normally, he would never have a crack at such an aggressive move, given the circumstances. However, his self-control was quickly dissipating as the battle escalated.

* * *

Dash zipped from street to street, glancing up to the rooftops all the while. He knew that GoGo had a means to track the rats, which meant that tailing her would take him right to them. However, when she pursued the rodents onto the roofs with some elaborate stunt that he couldn't hope to replicate, he found himself stranded on the road with the chase commencing without him. Though he kept pace with the action from ground level, he could do nothing but watch. As fast as he was, he had to admit that GoGo's mad skills were beyond him (even if that thought made him feel like wailing and collapsing in a writhing ball of tears and jealous despair). He had to get up there and jump back into the chase, but how?

An idea popped into his mind, but with that idea came the memory of a sharp warning from his mom.

 _"Dashiel Robert Parr, don't you **dare** try running up a wall! It works on T.V., but if you do that in real life, you'll fall, break your neck and die. Worse than that, you'll be **grounded forever!"**_

Scarcely had that memory passed through his mind before he rushed straight up the side of the wall. Coming to a stop at the building's top, he patted himself down to confirm the obvious that he was still in one piece.

"I'm **alive!"** Dash cheered. **_"YEAH!_ In. Your. _FACE._ Logic!"**

His attention was drawn to the rats as they bounced by, before he was forced to sidestep GoGo when she shot past in pursuit.

Dash zoomed after them, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. He briefly ran alongside GoGo to brandish a taunting grin before leaving her in the dust. She smirked to his back before leaping onto the power lines below the rooftops and surging ahead with exponential speed. Much to her gratification, she managed to catch the speedster boy's priceless expression when he noticed her passing him. Then his face hardened as he pushed for maximum velocity (as quickly as he could move while jumping rooftops, anyway).

Remy glanced back between a bounce. **"The speedy boy is hot on our six!"**

"Then let's shake him off!" the red rat declared. "We're almost out of rooftops! When we reach the last one, **jump! Jump as far as you can!"**

A moment later, they pushed into the air with all the effort they could muster, but they had narrowly left the ground before gusts of air shot below and above them. Much to their horror, they realised that those gusts were generated in the wake of the two speedsters' hands grabbing at them. Luckily, both GoGo and Dash had missed, and they wouldn't be getting any other opportunities in the near future.

The rats soared side by side, up, up, and away. Remy marvelled as half the city passed beneath them. Well, it wasn't _quite_ half the city - not by a long shot - but it certainly felt like it. He wouldn't have been surprised if they could use the Tigger Berry to jump right into the clouds! Closing his eyes, the blue rat enjoyed the sense of weightlessly sailing through the sky as the wind raced through his fur. He looked at his new friend, wondering if she was enjoying it as much as he was. Surprisingly, she looked worried. Why? Well, the fact that she was down to one stripe may have had something to do with it. Even so, the stripe had almost faded to nothing. They were counting on the Tigger Berry's bouncy formula to protect them when they landed, but it looked like the formula in her fur had almost worn off.

Hating to see her so upset, Remy reached for her paw to encourage her. Unfortunately, it was just beyond his grasp. Maybe he could get a little closer.

Her ears swivelled his way as she heard him panting before she looked to see him swimming through the air with labourious effort. Of course, air wasn't really designed to be swam through, so he was getting nowhere fast. It was easily the silliest thing she had seen all day.

"Remy? What are you doing?" she asked, unable to hold back a giggle.

"I'm *puff* catching up with you *pant*," he declared as he continued to swim. "There are probably *gasp* better ways to get it done *pant*, but if it makes you laugh *puff*, I'll keep doing it!"

She continued to chuckle at his antics until he finally reached her and held her paw.

"Hey, don't worry," Remy reassured with a final pant. "You're gonna be fine."

She sighed. "Well, I don't know about that, but thanks."

"I still have one and a half stripes left," he reminded. "I'll cushion your fall when we land."

The red rat smiled and nodded, although she doubted that that would work.

Suddenly, their jump was interrupted as a robotic hand engulfed them.

[I have got them again,] came Baymax's voice.

"Woohoo! Good save," cheered Hiro.

 **"Yes!"** squealed the raspberry rat. **_"Thank you,_ you big, lovable piece of technology, you!"**

Remy frowned in confusion. "Uh, aren't we supposed to be getting _away_ from the Big Hero Si-?"

 **"No! Shh!** _Shhhhh!"_ she shushed. "I'm enjoying the moment. Don't ruin it."

[Flying cars are attacking us,] Baymax suddenly declared in his usual, nonchalant way.

Hiro winced at the ridiculous statement. **_"Oooh ..._** Those bugs are biting _hard,_ aren't they?"

Suddenly, Baymax barrel-rolled out of the way as a massive object shot past them.

 **"WHAT was THAT?"** demanded Hiro.

[A flying car,] Baymax answered.

Hiro looked down to see a barrage of vehicles coming at them. The robot swerved, dove and rolled in evasive manoeuvres until one of the cars clipped him, causing him to spin out of control.

[Oh no,] Baymax commented as Hiro and the rats screamed their lungs out.

At some point, Hiro decided to stop unproductively panicking and focus on survival. He extended his hands and activated his geomagnetic tech, stabilising the robot's fall. This done, Baymax was able to slow their descent at the last moment, allowing a safe but bumpy landing on a building.

"Hand me the rats. You're gonna need your hands free," Hiro instructed as he disembarked Baymax.

[Why will I need my hands free?] asked the robot as he followed Hiro's command.

"Because I have a feeling I know who sent those cars," declared the boy as he stashed the rodents in his helmet once again.

 ***FOOOM!***

As if on cue, Mr. Incredible came crashing down on the rooftop after a massive leap.

"I see I got your attention," the super stated.

 **"You nearly got us _killed,_ that's what you 'got'!"** Hiro snarled.

The red rat warily observed the unfolding situation.

"Something's wrong ..." she declared.

"Aside from the fact Mr. Incredible just tossed a buncha cars at a kid?" asked Remy.

"That's just it!" she went on. "And now Hiro looks like he's ready to bite Mr. Incredible's head off! They're exhibiting atypical bursts of aggression, but they're **_heroes!_** They're not supposed to be this ... this ... **_savage!"_**

Hiro stepped aside, leaving his robotic friend to deal with the super.

"Teach him a lesson," the boy commanded.

The robot gave Hiro a clueless stare. [What kind of lesson would you like me to teach him?]

Mr. Incredible crackled his neck before diving into Baymax, sending them both tumbling onto the below street. They were on their feet in an instant and Mr. Incredible was first to throw a punch, only for Baymax to parry it with a skilful palm. Even as Mr. Incredible pumped a plethora of punches like pistons, Baymax managed to block, duck and sidestep them all with his more refined martial arts. However, in quick time some of the super's blows found their way around Baymax's defences. Soon, that became a more frequent occurrence, prompting Hiro to activate his communicator and intervene.

"Okay," began Hiro. "Mr. Incredible is a highly tactical fighter. That's how he took down the Omnidroid. If you give him enough time, he _will_ figure out how to beat you! It's _**imperative**_ that defeat him as fast as possible!"

[My programming prevents me from harming human beings,] the robot declared.

Mr. Incredible paused, processing Baymax's statement.

"Yeah ..." commented the super. "You have programming because you're a robot ... which means _I_ don't have to hold back!"

Locking his fingers together, Mr. Incredible sent Baymax flying with a double-fisted blow.

 ** _*( ( WHAAMM! ) )*_**

Hiro drew a gasp before pursuing the robot with his geomagnetic flight.

Baymax landed in a construction site, rolling a dozen yards or so before coming to rest on his back. Seconds later, Hiro touched down at his side. The fact that the robot wasn't moving didn't ease the boy's concerns.

"C'mon, Baymax! **Say something!"** Hiro begged.

Baymax opened his eyes. [Something,] he answered, taking Hiro's plea literally. [I am okay.]

After releasing a breath of relief, Hiro got down to business. "Look, buddy. You gotta get past the 'healthcare programming' thing. Maybe think of it this way: doctors put people under for surgery all the time, right? Knocking him out is the same."

[I cannot render a human unconscious for non-medical reasons that do not benefit well-being,] Baymax argued.

 ***FOOOM!***

Hiro flinched as Mr. Incredible landed nearby once again.

 **"Do it, or I'll sink into _permanent depression_ when he takes you offline!" **Hiro stated hurriedly.

Baymax blinked. [Your incentive is valid.]

Hiro flew out of the way as Mr. Incredible leapt in, fists raised for a hammering attack. Until then, Baymax had never so much as thrown a punch. As such, Mr. Incredible never expected the robot to cancel his attack with a kick that bounced him a fair distance behind the robot.

Baymax's scanner swept across the area, quickly identifying anything that could be used to his advantage. The super crash-landed into a bulldozer, but he could scarcely look up before Baymax jetted in, silhouetted by the Sun, wielding a pair of metal support beams.

No. Thank. You.

In one, swift move, Mr. Incredible grabbed the bulldozer and swung it in front of him as a shield. A blow from Baymax's beam tore it asunder, missing Mr. Incredible by a hair.

The super dove away for some breathing space and hurled an excavator, only for Baymax to smack it aside as the robot rushed in. Raising his fists in the stance of a boxer, that was all Mr. Incredible could do before being forced to absorb a beam blow with his shoulder. Baymax kept Mr. Incredible at bay with a whirlwind of stick melee. The super could do little more than weather the storm with evasive moves and the occasional block if push came to shove. Several times, he attempted to confiscate the beams or get in close, but Baymax had found his groove, and his unflinching mechanical execution allowed him to keep it.

Hiro watched from afar. Yup. Baymax had this about wrapped up. However, it took him a little too long to realise that with every dodge, Mr. Incredible was inching in a very specific direction.

 **"Baymax!** **Don't let him reach the cement bags!"** Hiro warned.

Too late.

The super's arms catapulted the bags in a bombardment. The robot was more than capable of deflecting the projectiles ... at least initially. Clouds of cement exploded from every bag that Baymax bashed away with his beams. Soon, a smokescreen of white powder had robbed him of his sight.

 **"Use your scanner!"** Hiro coached.

The robot followed Hiro's advice and quickly detected Mr. Incredible, but by that time the super was mere feet away, charging with a fist wound back for the granddaddy of uppercuts.

 ***( ( KRA- _KOOOM! ) )*_**

The thunderous force of the super's blow sent the smokescreen fleeing in all directions as Baymax was launched into the sky.

 ** _"YYEEEAAH,_** **BABY!"** Mr. Incredible shouted with a triumphant fist pump.

However, when he saw Hiro's devastated expression, his face fell and the Omega Aroma's veil of irrational aggression was pierced by his conscience.

"Look, kid, I didn't want to destroy your friend," Mr. Incredible apologised. "I ... I'm sorry."

Hiro's countenance softened slightly as he digested Mr. Incredible's words in what seemed to be a moment of clarity.

The red rat clasped her hands. _"Please_ accept his apology. **_Please_ accept his apology!"**

Unfortunately, Mr. Incredible continued. "It's just that ... the rat is a matter of international security. You really should defer to the French government on this."

With a face like a brewing thunderstorm, Hiro gave his categorical answer: **"You. Will _NEVER_. Take Tiny Tadashi."**

"You **_named_** it?" asked an increasingly impatient Mr. Incredible. "Once you **_name_** it, you start getting **_attached_** to it! **Now hand over Glory Days!** I ... I mean, the rat!"

Hiro answered by throwing his hands forward in a clap. It looked like a harmless, albeit aggressive gesture. However, Mr. Incredible had spent enough time around other supers to know that telekinetics often coordinated their powers with hand movements. Hiro may not have had telekinetic abilities, but his geomagnetic gauntlets operated in a very similar manner.

Suddenly, nearly every metal object in a thirty metre radius raced towards Mr. Incredible at Hiro's command. They all dog-piled the super, from vehicles to power tools (and the occasional misplaced watch). Soon, he was thoroughly engulfed in one big metallic ball.

"Ow," Mr. Incredible grunted.

Hiro's hands hung at his side as his suit's H.U.D. informed him that its magnetic powers had briefly been exhausted. Seconds later, he jumped as Baymax landed a dozen metres shy of him. Before Hiro had the chance to panic, his robot friend hastened to a stand and turned his attention to the tangle of metal that housed Mr. Incredible.

[Mr. Incredible said 'ow',] Baymax stated. [It would seem he has been hurt, despite my attempts to avoid such an outcome.]

"Wait, **you're saying you've been** **_holding back?"_** demanded Hiro. "You can't **_afford_** to hold back! The upper limit of Mr. Incredible's strength significantly surpasses yours! If you pull your punches, he'll **_tear you apart!"_**

Baymax blinked blankly before waddling towards Mr. Incredible.

[I will now treat him with a pain-killer,] Baymax declared.

 **"NO!"** Hiro exclaimed as he unsuccessfully tried to block the robot's path. **"I don't _need_ a robotic nurse right now! I need a _MONSTER!"_**

Baymax froze mid-step as Hiro removed his healthcare chip. Pupils of menacing red appeared in the robot's eyes as they fixed on Mr. Incredible, who was peeling away the metal that encased him.

 **"Baymax, _DESTROY!"_ **was all Mr. Incredible heard before the robot's rocket fists blasted towards him. The next thing Mr. Incredible knew, the mechanical hands clamped around the super and carried him skywards.

With Monster Baymax following closely behind, Mr. Incredible quickly tore the mechanical hands from his body and poised his knuckles to meet the robot when he finally reached him. However, instead of coming close enough to take a hit, Monster Baymax threw his feet forward and used their jets to blast Mr. Incredible higher. Tumbling through the air and out of his element, there was little Mr. Incredible could do as Monster Baymax's rocket fists knocked him further and further into the sky.

They entered the clouds and Mr. Incredible lost visibility, which allowed the robot to fly above and grab him from behind in a bear hug. Baymax rocketed back to Earth, quickly shattering the sound barrier with the aid of gravity.

Catching sight of them plummeting like a falling star from afar, Hiro hovered to a roof top for a closer look. His lips lifted in a smile that drove dread deep into the red rat's heart. She refused to believe that this was Hiro, but the dread became unbearable when she realised that it was _her!_ His every action was a reflection of hers! The thought of her involvement was enough to make her mind spin.

Releasing Mr. Incredible, Monster Baymax pulled up at the last second, leaving the super to smash into the road in an Earth-shaking collision. The resultant shock wave obliterated almost every glass object on the block, dousing the street in a rain of glass from the shattered windows. Hiro's visor cracked and even broke in one area so that when he reeled as the force of the impact struck him like a wave, the rats fell out of his helmet and scattered over the edge of the building.

When they hit the ground, it all went black.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **I'm sure you know that I'm particularly fond of peppering this story with references. Yeah, a lot of people do that, but I've seen one case where someone decided to make an "Easter Egg" hunt out of it. I decided to do something similar, and I don't know if I'll keep this up in every other chapter, but here it goes. I'll highlight some of the references and let's see if you can identify the movies and whatnot from which they originate. Are you up for it? If so, you can share your answers in the review section. Here they are!**

 **1\. GoGo's quote: "You are an incredibly competitive boy. Too bad your're a bit of a showoff." (It's almost a trick question)**

 **2\. Fred's quote: "Megaton Rainfall!"**

 **3\. The smartphone man's quote: "I dunno, something amazing, I guess." (easy one).**

 **4\. The smartphone man's other quote: "MY WATERMELON!" (Honestly, I don't remember what movie/series that came from either. Would you care to enlighten me?)**

 **5\. Dash's quote: "In. Your. _FACE._ Logic!"**

 **6\. The red rat's 'Joy Berry' and 'Anger Berry'.**

 **7\. Mr. Incredible's quote: "Once you _name_ it, you start getting _attached_ to it!"**


	9. Chapter 9: Making a Bolt

**By the way, you might have assumed that I've been calling Baymax 'Monster Baymax' by virtue of the fact that Hiro removed his healthcare chip, thus turning him into monster. That is true ... but it's only half of the truth. In the original Big Hero 6 comics, Baymax's name is _literally_ 'Monster Baymax', and no - he definitely wasn't made for healthcare. Calling him that when his chip was removed is a nod to his origins.**

 **Anyway, on to the story.**

* * *

Chapter 9

Making a Bolt

"Ow ... _Owwww_ ... My _head_ ..." the red rat groaned. "... Where am I?"

She stiffened as it all came back like a waking nightmare, accentuated by the desolate, devastated environment. Sitting up on the street, she spotted a sparkling carpet of shattered glass coating the sidewalk - a side effect of Mr. Incredible's shock wave upon smashing into the road at the hands of Baymax. Where was the super now?

The answer came in the form a rumble.

Frantically glancing about, she noticed that the sound emanated from a gaping hole surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks - Mr. Incredible's point of impact. His meteoric fall had left him embedded in ground had left him embedded deep within it ... but not for long.

The rumble increased to a cacophony as the street tore up around the hole, massive chunks flying into the air in a wave that swept towards her. The red rat scrambled as the pieces pounded down by the tons, too close for comfort. She took refuge under a car and winced at the sound of rubble storming the vehicle above her.

"No, **no, _no!"_** she exclaimed as the weight of the rocks made the car cave towards her.

With a few well-placed Blackberries, she supported the vehicle with their swollen masses, before darting close to one of the wheels. In her mind, it was the least likely area to collapse. Would those measures spare her for long? She honestly wasn't sure. The rat squeezed her eyes shut, dreading the thought of watching her demise as it unfolded. Fortunately, the rain of rocks ended and the car had held up.

She opened her eyes and was shocked to see that the shattered earth had stopped just short of the vehicle, leaving a rugged region of gouged out ground. At the centre of that region was Mr. Incredible, who had erupted from the road like a living volcano. Muscles taut and teeth gnashed in aggression, he looked to and fro for his opponent.

Monster Baymax was not one to disappoint.

At first, all that could be seen was the speck of light in the sky, generated by Baymax's jets. Blasting past speed of sound, the robot shot from the distance in the blink of an eye. The rat squeezed her ears shut as Baymax's supersonic thunderclap shattered the air. The robot hit Mr. Incredible head-on, the ramming the super into a bus before unleashing a merciless melee of martial arts.

The rodent darted towards the fighters, but it felt as though they were an infinity away as her legs failed to move nearly as quickly as she desired.

 **"BAYMAX,** ** _STOP!_** **"** she shouted, in spite of the fact that he wouldn't understand even if he could hear her. **"YOU'RE a** ** _HERO_** ** _!_ This ISN'T what you were made fo-!"**

 _ ***( ( BOOOM! ) )***_

She half-shrieked, half-gasped as Monster Baymax hurtled overhead, knocked across the block by a blow from Mr. Incredible.

The super dislodged himself from the bus a brief moment before a balled up clump of cars rolled into him, courtesy of Hiro's geomagnetic tech. Mr. Incredible met it with open hands, hoisted it into the air, spotted Hiro on a roof and hurled it at the boy. The Big Hero narrowly managed to stop the ball mid-air before sending it back to Mr. Incredible, who shattered it with a fist. Flying hunks of flaming vehicle flew in all directions, the fuel tanks decimated by his mighty strike.

Not a moment later, Baymax crashed into the super, tearing the street in flight as he dragged Mr. Incredible out of sight.

The rat collapsed onto her haunches. Time lost its meaning as she gazed about the battered battlefield in a daze. It seemed she was right back where she started before her adventures began - a doom-laden nightmare for which she was indubitably the cause. At some point, Dash and GoGo rushed by, so caught up in their competition that they failed to digest the gravity of the situation. She could faintly hear them trading taunts, even after they disappeared into the smoke left in the wake of Mr. Incredible and Baymax's battle.

 ** _"Ha!_** Missed me, GoGo!"

 **"GRR!** We'll see about that, Incrediboy!"

 **"Stop calling me that!"**

The rumbling growl of burning cars quickly swallowed up their voices. She was alone. Small. Helpless.

Amid the smoke wafting across the street, she saw Remy scampering toward her, but she was in no state of mind to take note of him.

"This is all my fault ..." she declared, paws on her head in despair.

*p-pat ... _p-pat_ ... **_p-pat!*_**

The sound of big paws pattering road was her only warning before being scooped up and carried off by a canine mouth.

At the back of her despondent mind, she heard Remy's shout: **"NO!"**

Soon, the canine reached an alley, plopped her down and she stared up at him with indifference. Well, what was he going to do? If he was anything like the sharks (and he probably was) his next course of action would involve a painful encounter with teeth. In any event, she was quite sure that she would deserve whatever he did. It seemed about time fate pulled out the ol' 'what goes around comes around' on her. However, instead of teeth, she was met by a tongue that licked ...

And licked ...

And licked ...

And licked ...

* * *

After arriving in the alley, Remy got his first look at the white dog responsible for abducting his friend. Though the canine bore traits of an American White Shepherd or a Berger Blanc Suisse, he was smaller than both breeds. However, his medium-sized body boasted a sturdy build. Remy wasn't concerned about the dog's unidentifiable breed so much as he wanted to know what the canine had done with the other rat. He couldn't see her so much as he saw the dog licking away at something already doused in a pool of drool, but it wasn't hard to put two and two together.

 **"STOP!"** Remy demanded. **"You're** ** _DROWNING_** **her in your SALIVA!"**

The dog was startled, but instead of jumping, he stiffened and snapped his ears and eyes towards Remy with almost military alertness.

 **"Oh!** My apologies!" the dog replied as he sheepishly backed off, but even in doing so he carried himself like a soldier.

The canine hastily brushed away the saliva before Remy reached the red rat. She lay there motionless, and Remy promptly performed a series of pumping presses to her unconscious body, applying C.P.R.

 **"Hands off the beauty you** ** _BEAST!"_** came an unfamiliar voice.

Remy looked around for the source of the sound. _"Wha-?_ **Ow!"**

Something round had hit him from behind. He looked back to see that the round thing was a transparent, plastic ball housing a brown hamster. Remy could almost swear that the inner surface of the sphere fogged up as the hamster fumed through nostrils flared. What did this guy think he was? Some kind of rhino?

 **"Yeah! Feel every** ** _PIECE_** **o' that ball!"** the hamster commanded before attempting to flatten the rat with said ball.

Remy shoved the ball away and tried to focus on resuscitating the red rat.

 _"Please,_ give me a little space," Remy requested, attempting to sound civil. "I'm trying to apply C.P.R.!"

 ** _"You'll_** **need C.P.R. when I'm _done_ with you!"** the hamster declared.

He began to charge again, but found that he could not move. The two rodents looked up to see a black cat with white highlights on her paws, belly, tail tip and muzzle. Despite her light build, she was heavy enough to easily pin down the hamster, and that was exactly what she did by leisurely leaning on his ball, resting her chin on her crossed forelimbs.

"Hey, how ya doin'?" she greeted in a laid-back fashion.

"Uh ... _hello?_ " Remy slowly responded.

The feline's green eyes bore the calm, 'I couldn't worry even if I tried' look for which her kind was famous. Remy knew for a fact that despite their seemingly unflappable attitudes, it didn't take much to spook a feline. However, that didn't change the fact that they were his natural enemy. Normally, he stood a good chance of surviving a cat attack. However, he couldn't deal with one while performing C.P.R. Hopefully, she was friendly.

"You can keep doing what you're going," the cat declared, before patting the hamster's ball. "Don't worry about him, or me for that matter."

The hamster released a frustrated hybrid between a growl and a whine as he tried to break free. **"Lemme go, Cat! Don't** ** _fraternise_** **with the rat!** Do you **_h_** _ **onestly**_ trust him to do C.P.R.? Where'd he learn how to do it? A landfill? A _gutter?_ The **_sewers?"_**

The feline raised a sceptical eyebrow. "A, refer to me by my real name, will ya, and B, you think you can do a better job?"

 **"Of** ** _course_** **I can!"** the hamster argued. "I've seen it on T.V. all the time! It's as easy as one, two, five!"

Remy couldn't help but pause and glance up upon hearing the hamster's ignorant and familiar statement, before returning to the task of reviving the other rat.

 **"Hey! I am** ** _not_** **to be ignored!"** the hamster insisted as he threw himself against the side of the ball. **"Face me like a man so I can trash talk you to yo'** ** _face!"_**

"I don't have time for shenanigans," Remy dismissed.

 **"Ha!"** the hamster shot back. "Shows what _**you**_ know! I'm a _**hamster!"**_

Suddenly, the red rat coughed out big blobs of saliva that went down the wrong way.

 _"Ewww ..."_ she commented as she sat up, frowning at the drool clinging to her arm.

"Sorry," the dog apologised once again.

"Good thing I saved you," the hamster lied. "Well, technically the rat did it, but I instructed him."

"Mm hm, not buying it," the she responded. "I was in that weird zone between consciousness and unconsciousness where you can hear everything but you can't do anything about it."

The cat snickered as the hamster folded his arms with a sour expression.

"You can get off me now," the hamster declared.

"Yeah. I can, can't I?" replied the feline, who didn't budge an inch.

"Anyway, we're just glad you're okay," the dog stated. "Say, mind if I call you 'Penny'? I know that's probably not your name, but you remind me of her, _so ..."_

The red rat sighed. "I'm sure this 'Penny' means a lot to you, but I'm _not_ her. Just call me-" she paused before shrugging in defeat. "You know what? Call me whatever floats your boat, at least for now."

"Wait a minute, did you say _'Penny'?"_ asked Remy. "I **_knew_** I recognised you from somewhere! **You're ' _Bolt_ the _Superdog'!"_**

"Bolt the super- _who-now?"_ asked the clueless red rat.

"What are you doing in _Paris?_ " Remy went on. "Do your humans know you're here? _"_

"No, as a matter of fact they don't," Bolt stated with a nuance of guilt. "We hitched a ride to Paris on the spur of the moment. Somehow, I feel like Penny had something to do with it - the rodent Penny, not the human, mind you. It's almost like we could smell her from across the planet!"

"So, you're a super hero?" the red rat began. "Here to deescalate the crisis? And not just make it worse, I presume?"

Her questions were actually more like suggestions in hopes that he wouldn't do the opposite. The last thing the city needed was a berserk superdog compounding the chaos.

With a sombre air, the dog looked back at his left side, where his lighting bolt-shaped 'Mark of Power' had been throughout most of his life, or rather 'The Mark of a Good Makeup Artist' as it had once been called. Without said makeup artist, it had faded, somehow taking with it part of his identity.

"It ... turns out I'm not as 'super' as I thought," Bolt declared with a weak smile.

"Are you **_kidding?"_** Remy went on. "Your T.V. series is edge-of-your-seat **awesome** _,_ _especially_ season 1! I've _never_ seen another actor pull off that kind intensity, human or animal!"

"That's just it," Bolt explained. "It wasn't acting! They _tricked_ me into thinking that every, mission, 'episode', or whatever was a matter of life or death."

"Bolt and his owner, Penny, quit after the first season," the hamster explained. "His replacement pales in comparison to the original, and it didn't help that the plots got increasingly ridonculous. Anyway, the name's Rhino."

"Remy," the blue rat responded.

Rhino frowned. "I wasn't talking to _you."_

The cat rolled her eyes as she finally got off of the hamster.

"And I'm Mittens O'Malley Figaro Schrödinger," the feline introduced.

Both Bolt and Rhino stared at her quizzically.

"What?" she asked. "I can't have a full name?"

"Well, you _can._ We just didn't know you **_did,"_** Bolt explained.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Mittens declared a-matter-of-factly, before turning her attention to the red rat. "So, you got a name? I'm willing to bet it's not 'Penny'."

"Uh oh," the red rat mumbled.

"Uh oh, what?" asked Remy.

"I lost my train of thought," she explained. "It was an important thought, too. You know, you just forget so easily. No matter how hard you try, you just forget, you forget, you forget, and the memory's gone. Sorry, it's one of my quirks. You just forget about it."

Rhino's eyes lit up and he cracked a sneaky smile at the girl.

"Oh, you are _clever,"_ he commented. "I see what you did there!"

"What- what are you talking about?" she asked, attempting a poker face and failing.

"That was neuro-linguistic programming, wasn't it?" asked Rhino. "I saw it in a YouTube video. Don't worry your pretty little head, my lips are zipped, and you're good to go. I like a lady with an air of mystery."

"And here I thought your lips were zipped," gibed Mittens.

Rhino chuckled at the deliciousness of the situation. "The joke's on you, Cat. She hustled you _good!_ In fact, I'm the only one who didn't fall for it, 'cause I'm _educated!"_

The cat shook her head, nose wrinkled as though she smelled something unpleasant. "Educated? _You?"_ she turned to the red rat. "I assume he's spouting nonsense, but on the slight chance that he's _not_ ...?"

"Trust me, it's not worth our time," the rat stated simply.

Mittens rolled her eyes. "It figures. By the way, _love_ your fragrance. I'm usually not like this, and I don't expect you to say 'yes', but I have to ask: mind if I nibble on your tail real quick? I'll leave it intact ... ish."

"Yes," the red rat quickly responded.

Even more quickly, Mittens snapped at her but she pulled her tail away in the nick of time.

 **"HEY! I said** ** _'NO'!"_** protested the rat.

"Technically, you said 'yes'," Mittens argued.

"I said 'yes', as in **_'yes,_ I ****_would_** **mind!'"** the rat explained.

Mittens shrugged: "To be fair, that was a slightly ambiguous answer. Next time, be a little more specific, 'kay?"

Suddenly, an icy blast passed the alley, followed by roaring flames. Bolt reflexively shielded the others with his body.

"This area is not secure!" he declared. **"Hop on!"**

The rats climbed onto his back and he shot down the alley, followed by Mittens and Rhino. However, he stopped when he reached a wired fence and stared at it intently.

The rats exchanged confused glances.

"Oh, um, my apologies," Bolt explained, catching himself. "Sometimes I forget that I don't have 'laser eyes'."

Instead of trying to decimate the fence with imaginary eye beams, Bolt quickly found a damaged area and slipped through it.

They had reached the middle of the alley when Mr. Incredible slammed into a streetlight not far beyond it, before tearing the structure from the ground and raising it like a melee weapon as he rushed back out of sight. Bolt stood stock-still, considering his options. It seemed they were in the eye of the storm - a pocket safe from the chaotic battle, but for how long? Was anywhere safe in this city-turned-war zone? Could they even leave the alley without getting caught in the crossfire?

"Why are they even _fighting?"_ asked Mittens. "At this rate, they'll destroy the city! Aren't they supposed to 'protect and serve' or somethin'?"

"It doesn't make sense," the red rat agreed. "The cool-down period should have ended by now! Even so, I didn't design the Omega Aroma to induce such aggression. It's supposed to create _positive_ emotions, but it's turning people, _good_ people, into ** _savages!"_**

"Well, night howlers _do_ tend to have that effect," Remy commented.

"Wait ... so you're saying you _caused_ this?" asked Bolt.

The red rat hesitated before giving a sober nod. "Yeah ..."

Bolt shrugged. "I guess it's not like you did it on purpose. Making mistakes is just part of life. You gotta forgive yourself and move on."

 _ **"Listen**_ to yourself!" the rat countered. "I just told you that I'm responsible for this crisis and you _shrugged it off!_ That's what the Omega Aroma does: it warps your thoughts and feelings so that you'll _always_ see me in a positive light, no matter what I do! Even without the side effect of savagery, I'm not supposed to have that kind of power over people!"

"But you said it yourself," Remy argued. "It's not 'mind control'. That means that the super heroes are _choosing_ to do this, even if your Omega Aroma is contributing to that choice."

"If it's not mind control, it's too close for comfort," she stated. "Besides, anything that makes it so easy to ignore your conscience can't be good."

Remy began to disagree. "But-"

"What if I asked you to risk a lot of lives or never see me again?" she interrupted. "What would you do?"

He paused a little too long, then began opening his mouth to answer.

"You hesitated," she stated before he could get a word out.

"Yeah but, I mean, I _know_ the right choice," Remy argued. "It's just ... it's hard to think about not seeing you again."

 **"I would NUKE the** ** _PLANET_** **for you!"** Rhino emphatically declared.

The red rat's jaw dropped, but she quickly collected herself. "Case in point. I'm shutting down the Omega Aroma. You guys, stay safe. It's something I have to do alone."

"No, you don't," Bolt gently but firmly disagreed. "Mind control or not, this city needs all the heroes it can get. I'm not much, but if I can do something to help save it, or even just save _you,_ count me in."

Mittens rolled her eyes. "Yup. Typical dog: loyal, pure, selfless, and you can't help but love 'im for it. I'm coming too."

"Then let's ** _roll!"_** Rhino declared, accentuating his statement by rolling towards the mouth of the alley ... only to stop short. "Uh ... where again are we rolling, exactly?"

The red rat removed a colourful sphere from her bag, much like the one that she boiled to create the Omega Aroma. "This formula will cancel out the global chemical reaction, but it'll need to oxidise a very thin layer of metal to do it, preferably puddled iron - _**lots**_ of it."

"'Puddled iron' ... that's the same as 'wrought iron', right?" asked Remy. "I'm sure we'll find some fairly easily, but chances are it'll be painted to prevent rusting. That might be a problem."

"The formula will easily permeate a thin layer of paint," she assured, slipping the chemical sphere back into the bag. "The only question is _where_ are we gonna find that much iron? A tall structure is preferable, so that the formula can work its way down by the force of gravity. I know, I know, that isn't very straightforward, but I deliberately made the Omega Aroma difficult to reverse."

By chance, Rhino spotted a leaflet among the bits of trash scattered about, baring Paris's most famous monument.

"How 'bout the Eiffel Tower?" asked the hamster.

 ** _"Perfect!"_** the girl exclaimed.

Rhino turned to Remy. **"Ha!** Score one for the **hamster!** Take _**that,**_ rat!"

The other rat was grinding her teeth. It was a habit of her species, but in this case it indicated her growing frustration with Rhino's antics.

"Honestly, Remy's been nothing but helpful since I created this mess," she declared, attempting to keep her calm, _"and_ he's managed to remain relatively self-controlled in spite of the Omega Aroma, where a lot of other rats failed. He _deserves_ your respect, **so lay off the jabs."**

 **"Ha ha** ** _HA!"_** Remy mocked. **"Take** ** _that,_** **shenanigan!** Now roll over in your little ball and **play** _ **dead!"**_

She was not amused. _"Please_ don't tempt me to withdraw my praise."

Remy immediately calmed down. "Right ... sorry."

"I don't wanna question your judgement or anything, but _**look**_ at him!" Rhino argued. "He's a **_rat!_** You're too good for him!"

 **"You know what?!"** she snapped. **"ENOUGH with the speceisism!** **_I'm_** **a rat!"**

Rhino's eyes went wide and he froze when that revelation hit him like a hammer.

 ** _"Whaaa-?"_** he began. "I thought you were a _mouse!"_

"Shoulda quit while you weren't too far behind, buddy," Mittens commented.

Remembering that they were pressed for time, Remy looked to the mouth of the alley and found Bolt already there. Having slipped away during the conversation, the dog hugged the wall as he stared down the road, presumably checking to see if the coast was clear.

"Is it safe to move out?" asked Remy.

"Relatively," Bolt answered. "There's a little action further down the street, but it's moving away from us. We should be good to go very soon. The Eiffel Tower's a long way off, but I have a few ideas that could get us there in one piece. Then again ... I'm not sure if much of the tactical thinking I learned in my T.V. show applies to real life."

"Actually, it does," Rhino stated. "I watched a behind the scenes featurette on your show. They explained that they had Penny train you with a unique fusion of real K-9 disciplines, military tactics, unorthodox know-how and skills that don't exist in real-life combat. They even went so far as to boast that if you actually **_had_** powers, you would probably know exactly how to use them."

"How could they possibly know that?" asked Mittens.

Rhino gave her a deadpan stare. "Must you suck the wonder out of everything, Cat? Moving on. Bolt, did you consider the camouflage technique you used in episode 9?"

"Yes," Bolt confirmed. "But it's not foolproof. We'll need a more reliable means of staying out of sight. There are a lot of abandoned vehicles and I'm pretty sure I can hot-wire one. We can work together to drive it. That'll provide cover as well as transport."

"But the Big Heroes have a means to track me," the red rat stated. "I think Honey Lemon's been using her ChemiCalculator to trace the Omega Aroma."

"Then the sewers are our best bet at keeping you underground, no pun intended," Bolt went on, "but we could get lost down there ..."

"We won't," Rhino stated. "I more or less memorised Paris's sewage layout from a realistic map I saw in a movie."

"Hm," Mittens grunted in approval. "And all this time I thought your obsession with television turned your brain to mush."

"Balancing my education with with war-themed video games and graphic novels helped," Rhino stated, before grinning at the red rat. "See that? I'm worldly and multifaceted. You like guys like that, right? You strike me as the intelligent type."

"Sorry, I don't date outside my species," she responded. "Then again, I don't really date at all, but if I _did,_ I'd stick to my species."

"Give me a chance, I'll grow on ya," Rhino encouraged with a wink.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like fungus."

Bolt trotted to the centre of the alley and the others followed him.

"Remember that camouflage technique Rhino mentioned?" Bolt began. "I think I saw something around here that might help ..."

Suddenly, Violet's force blades scattered across the road beyond the alley, mincing the street and buildings. Two struck a telephone pole, splintering wood and severing power lines. The structure fell towards them, wires spitting sparks as they lashed against the sides of the alley.

 **"MOVE!"** Bolt commanded.

He and his friends rushed across the alley, but when he glanced up and saw the pole practically on top of them, it became clear that they wouldn't make it in time.

 **"Penny, Remy! On my head,** ** _NOW!"_** urged Bolt.

The rats moved from his back to his skull and he immediately flung them forward with a jerk of the neck, just as the pole came down.

Coming to a stop after tumbling across the ground, the rodents looked back to find that the pole hadn't fallen all the way, held back by the wires that remained intact. However, the broken wires dangled to the ground, snaring Bolt, Mittens and Rhino in a web of electricity. Whatever protection Rhino's ball had afforded was quickly obliterated as the arcs melted through the plastic.

"F-f- **f** -f **in** ish the m **iss** ion, P- **Penn** y!" Bolt uttered spasmodically before collapsing.

The rats' jaws hung at the horrible sight.

"No ... **This can't happen, NO!"** th girl shrieked.

 **"We have to cut the power!"** Remy declared.

"Wait ..." she began. **"I ... think there's another way! If we cut the power, the damage will be irreversible!** **We _need_ the electricity to revive them!"**

 **"It's too much, it'll only make the damage worse!"** Remy insisted. **"We** ** _need_** **to cut the power!"**

 **"There** ** _IS_** **another way, it's at the tip of my mind!"** she repeated before grabbing her head as if to squeeze out the answer. **"Come on, brain! You** ** _have_** **the answer! THINK!** ** _THIIIINK!"_**

Remy half-expected her to shout **'BRAIN BLAST!'** , but instead her eyes grew distant as she seemed to slip into a trance-like calm.

"What happened?" Remy demanded. **"Are you okay!?"**

[Accessing archives: DC C0M1CS,] she began in a monotone voice, ignoring him. [Speed Force Equation: 3X2(9YZ)4A. Translating equation to chemical formula. Adapt for D1ZN3Y/P1XAR conditions with A113 principle. Tweak with Chemical X. Unexpected but advantageous side effects are inevitable.]

Her trance broke and she darted off, with Remy hastening to keep up with her.

"We can save them!" she declared as they exited the alley, "but we're going to have to act **fast!"**

Suddenly, a blur swooped in and they found themselves caught in the crushing grip of a young speedster.

 **"ACK! My INSIDES!"** the red rat shrieked. **"Not again! NOT AGAIN!"**

 **"YEAH, BABY!** I got the rats, **_again!"_** Dash cheered. "Eat your heart out, GoGo! ... Wherever you are. Oh! **_That's_** right! You're too busy eating my **_DUST,_** **ha ha!** ** _YEOWCH!"_**

A bite from Remy persuaded Dash to drop the rats. The moment he hit the ground, Remy scurried up the boy's body until he got to the top of the head.

 **"Hey! Get _off_ me!"** Dash exclaimed.

He tried to reach for the rodent, but his hand stopped short when Remy pulled his hair. Again and again, the boy's attempts to get at the rat were thwarted as he seemed to lose control of his body every time his hair was yanked by Remy. It almost felt as if he were fighting himself!

 **"Just gotta- get the right- follicle combination!"** Remy declared, dodging and hopping Dash's grabs every now and then.

"What are you doing to him?" asked the raspberry rat.

"Everyone has a thing," Remy explained as he continued to grapple with Dash's hair. "Some are double-jointed, others can roll their tongues. Me? I can hijack control of people's bodies by pulling their hair like puppet strings."

Remy gave Dash's hair one last yank and the boy's hands snapped to his side as if he were a soldier standing at attention.

"That was strangely involuntary," commented a confused Dash.

With a few gentle hair pulls, Remy made the boy kneel and extend his hand for the other rat to climb onto it.

"I thought your thing was cooking," she stated as she stepped onto Dash's palm.

"I have multiple 'things'," Remy explained, lifting her to Dash's head with the kid's hand. "That's part of what makes me an eligible bachelor."

"Seriously? We're doing this here? Now?" she asked while hopping from Dash's palm to his head.

Remy took on a whimsical air as he quoted a line he had heard in a movie: "Why _not_ here? Why _not_ now?"

The red rat's response was quick and urgent. **"BECAUSE BOLT AND HIS FRIENDS ARE** ** _THIS_** **CLOSE TO-!"**

 **"OH, right, right!"** Remy replied with renewed urgency. Flinging Dash's hair like a pair of reins, Remy gave the command. **"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"**

 **"Stop!** This is _**child labour!"**_ Dash complained as his arms flailed like a rearing horse's hooves.

With that, the boy rushed down the road against his will.

"So, where are we going?" asked Remy.

"We need to find a lab with advanced chemical facilities," she responded. "This is your city. Do you have any idea where-?"

Both rodents gasped as the same thought popped into their heads.

 **"Honey Lemon's purse!"** they blurted in unison.

* * *

"... and when you add baking soda at that _exact_ moment, the chemical composition is enhanced so that it's indistinguishable from gourmet food," Honey Lemon stated.

"So you mean I've been warming up leftovers the wrong way all this time?" asked Mrs. Incredible.

Honey Lemon shrugged. "Don't beat yourself up, everyone does."

"I have **_got_** to get more of your tips!" Elastigirl stated. "Is there any way I can follow you online?"

"Just go to the Big Hero 6 blog," Honey Lemon instructed. "There, I go by 'Tall Girl'. Long story."

"Thanks! Will do," the super declared.

 _"Sooo ..."_ Honey Lemon ventured. "Now that we're friends-ish, would you mind letting me go?"

"If I do that, you'll just run of and join your teammates, leaving me in this embarrassing position," Elastigirl stated. "You could say 'misery likes company'."

"I could dissolve the hardened chemicals release you!" the Big Hero chirped.

 _"Will_ you release me?" the Incredible pressed.

"Yes! ... _maybe_ ... no. Sorry," Honey Lemon answered, unable to bring herself to lie.

Elastigirl tightened her grip. "Well then, there's your answer."

In the next instant, Dash zoomed into the wrecking yard to find his mom and Honey Lemon stuck in the same position he had left them.

"Oh, _finally!"_ Mrs. Incredible sighed in relief. "Sweetie, mommy really needs your help. I think I know how to dissolve the chemicals, but- Wait a minute ... what's that beeping sound? **Are you typing chemical combinations into the Big Hero's purse!? Stop that! That thing is** ** _not_** **a toy!"**

"Yeah, it's really not," Honey Lemon agreed. "You do _not_ want to end up like Globby."

"You're right! I should _listen_ to you!" Dash growled, making a fruitless effort to snatch the rats off of his head. **"Grr!** Sorry, Mom! The rats somehow took control of my body! I couldn't help you even if I _tried!"_

Mrs. Incredible paused ... before unleashing her motherly wrath. **"LOOK, _BOY!_ THAT'S THE _STUPIDEST_ EXCUSE I'VE HEARD SINCE THIS MORNING! I'm ****_CRAMPED_** **and I'm** ** _MISERABLE_** **and I will GROUND. YOU. TO.** ** _DUST_** **IF YOU DON'T GET ME OUT OF HERE** ** _YESTERDAY!"_**

Dash whimpered while Honey Lemon yelped.

 **"Ow! Your arm is CONSTRICTING!"** the Big Hero exclaimed. **"My FLESH! My BONES! My ORGANS!"**

Elastigirl loosened her grip. "Sorry."

Remy took a moment to glance between Honey Lemon and the other rodent.

"Yup, I screamed more or less the same thing not half an hour ago," the red rat stated, predicting his thoughts. "Hey, I said that Honey Lemon was my role model. It's kind of spooky how well I mimicked some of her thought processes."

Honey Lemon examined Dash. "Um, Elastigirl? in your son's defense, it really _does_ look like the rats are controlling him which, frankly, is _not_ the weirdest thing I've seen as a super hero. The red one appears to be giving the blue one instructions, and she's wearing a crossbody bag like a little person! I don't know, maybe there's more going on-"

The Big Hero paused as Dash punched in the last digit in her purse, causing it to produce a chem ball which made her eyes pop.

"-More going on than we think ..." Honey Lemon finished, trailing off in wonder.

Dash held and beheld the golden chem ball, his mouth ajar as bolts of amber lightning rushed around it in a never-ending race. At first, he was afraid to touch it, but curiously the apparent electricity didn't zap his fingers on contact.

 **"In** ** _credible!"_** the boy commented.

That was all he could say before he found himself zooming from the wrecking yard at Remy's command.

"Was that a 'whoosh'?" asked Elastigirl.

 **"No!** I mean **yes!** I mean it's just **_wind!"_** Honey Lemon half-lied.

"I can't see much from this angle," Elastigirl stated. "Is that boy merely beyond my vision, or is he gone?"

Honey Lemon was rightly afraid to give the answer. "Um ... he's gone. Sorry- **Too tight! ACK! My INSIDES! Not again! NOT AGAIN!"**

* * *

Lacking Dash's speedster brain, Remy didn't trust himself to pilot the boy at optimum speed. As such, he limited Dash to a steady 70mph which, for the boy, was like a light jog. Remy only hoped that it was fast enough.

In a minute or so, Dash had returned to the alley where Bolt, Mittens and Rhino lay. He had never actually entered the alley on his first arrival. Thus, he hadn't quite caught sight of the shock victims until his second visit. Now that he had, their dire predicament drew a gasp from his lungs. At Remy's command, he hurled the chem ball into the tangle of electricity that claimed them. That ball burst into a cloud of gold that hung on the air, but didn't seem to improve the situation.

The rats quietly observed Bolt and company. Dash made no further attempts to struggle, mostly on account of wanting to see what would happen next.

Remy attempted to break the tension with a question. "So, I heard you say something about the 'Speed Force'. What is it, exactly?"

"Just one of those crazy things my brain spits out under pressure," responded the red rat. "I'm not totally sure what it is, but I think it allows lifeforms to metabolise electricity, or something to that effect. In this case, initial exposure should bring about a miraculous recovery."

"Mm," Remy grunted in acknowledgement, attempting keep his mind (and eyes) off of the horrific sight of Bolt and his friends. "Sounds a bit like something from 'The Flash' T.V. series."

"It's as real as we are," she answered, repeating her statement about the Flubber Formula.

Suddenly, the electricity turned gold before developing three distinct hues: amber, green and red, the separate colours gravitating towards Bolt, Mittens and Rhino respectively. Their bodies seemed to drink the unique hues with insatiable thirst, but despite that thirst, the electricity only grew in intensity. Dash instinctively began to step back, and Remy had no desire to interfere with the boy's unauthorised movement. Finally, the swarm of dancing light reached a climax and blasted into the telephone pole above the animals, reducing it to a splintered husk of ash and cutting the power for good.

All was silent, but Bolt and company remained completely still.

"Heh, maybe they'll develop super powers," Remy joked.

The red rat's face fell as she sighed. "It's been so long since they first got zapped. More than likely, they're just super dead."

Suddenly, Bolt sprang to his feet with a loud gasp and not a hint of injury. The rats screamed in surprise, but Dash's shriek was by far the most frantic. After sneaking a few late-night horror movies, his imagination was running wild once he saw the dog seemingly return to life. The boy began to run away, only for Remy to reel him back to the mouth of the alley with a few hair tugs.

Remembering what had happened before he lost consciousness, Bolt examined Rhino and Mittens, sniffing them. They remained unconscious, but they were breathing steadily and he couldn't identify any sign of bodily damage. Good. But _how_ were they still breathing? The last thing he remembered was the telephone pole hanging overhead and ... and, it was still there, he quickly discovered - what was left of it, anyway. His mind drew a blank. What on Earth could have happened to it? Why had it been barbecued while he felt like a million bucks? He had a lot of questions, but decided to settle for that which was most pressing at the moment.

"Penny? Remy? You okay?" asked the dog.

"Aside from the fact that I almost wet myself, I'm good," the red rat declared.

"Me too," Remy added. "Although the 'wetting' part is still a possibility."

Bolt nodded. "Okay. Fill me in once we've finished the mission," suddenly, he stared into the heavens. "Wait ... up in the sky, what is that?"

Remy followed his gaze. "I think it's a bird."

"Or a plane," suggested the red rat, before she squinted as the object drew exponentially closer. "It's ... **_Baymax!_ He's coming for me!"**

The concern in her voice was all Bolt needed to hear before darting in front of Dash and the rats.

 **"Stay behind me and duck!"** he commanded as the robot swooped towards them.

Dash was ducking by instinct before Remy had the chance to make him do it.

Though Bolt's body probably provided little protection, he did the only thing he knew to do when an inevitable collision threatened someone he cared about: he lowered his head and prepared to take the impact. However, speed was a funny thing. It was intrinsic to motion, and motion was intrinsic to everything. What did you get when molecules refused to move when faced with shattering impact? Something that could easily be mistaken for invulnerability. The forces behind speed were also akin to the forces responsible for power.

What did that mean for Bolt?

It meant that when Monster Baymax crashed into him with staggering force, Bolt's body had the integrity to hold itself together, and the strength to stand its ground.

The robot spun out of control as if hitting a speed bump at a hundred miles per hour.

 **{I'll be back,}** declared Monster Baymax, striking a wall and falling into a dumpster.

Dash and the rats stared in dumbfounded silence. At first, Bolt was simply thrilled to have defended them and stayed in one piece. Understandably, that thrill quickly germinated confusion.

"Did ... **did you** ** _SEE_** **that?"** Bolt gushed. **"Something like that hasn't happened since I was on T.V., but this** ** _ISN'T_** **T.V.! I mean, the collision kinda hurt, but how am I even still** ** _alive?_** **"**

"I ... think it has something to do with how I saved you from electrocution ..." the red rodent slowly stated.

 **"What'd you** ** _DO?"_** asked Bolt. **"Douse me with** ** _radioactive chemicals?_** _"_

"Close enough," she answered.

They jumped as Monster Baymax emerged from the dumpster.

 **{I'm back, hairy babies,}** the robot declared.

Bolt bared his teeth as he glared daggers at the robot. However, instead of daggers, monstrous bolts of amber lightning erupted from his eyes like writhing serpents, straight from the heart of the Speed Force. They struck Monster Baymax with staggering impact and the robot's servos convulsed in spasm.

 **{System error,}** Baymax mumbled before flopping back into the dumpster.

Great. The robot was down. Now how was Bolt supposed to switch off the lightning? He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to hold it in, but the electricity stung the lids until he was forced to open them once again.

Panicking, Bolt shook his head, tearing searing gashes into the alley's walls and scarcely missing Dash and the rats in the process. Power surges rippled across the block, super charging electronics until many exploded in bursts of sparks. Realising the danger he posed, Bolt angled his lightning into the sky where it could do no harm.

The Incredibles and Big Hero 6 could not help but pause their skirmish and gawk at the sight of the tremendous power unleashed into the heavens.

 **"Come on, Bolty!** _ **Focus!"**_ the dog yelled, coaching himself.

Splitting the clouds, his lightning narrowed into a jagged stream. Finally, it dissipated and Bolt was able to close his eyes, panting in both emotional and physical fatigue.

"It's ... it's not exactly 'laser eyes' ..." Bolt commented between breaths.

"Now I know what the kid on the tricycle felt like ..." Dash muttered, before scrunching his eyebrows. "Wait ... why's my hair wet?"

All eyes darted to the walls as the entire alley began to rumble. With key structures annihilated by Bolt's lightning, there was nothing left for the buildings to do but collapse.

"I'm out!" Dash declared before zipping from the alley to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. Much to his surprise, Bolt was right beside him when he stopped.

Having carried Mittens' limp form, the dog quickly set the feline down.

 **"Stay clear!"** he commanded as he dashed back to the alley. **"I'm going back for Rhino!"**

Unfortunately, he wasn't quite sure how to reactivate his speed. It came in sputtering bursts, propelling him forward in brief flashes of lightning. However, by the time he reached Rhino, he was well aware that the walls had practically fallen apart around him. The good news was that his speed had finally kicked in full-time, allowing him to process the world with such swiftness that it might as well have been moving in slow motion. The bad news was that when he looked up, he almost bumped his head on the collapsing buildings. The path he had taken had already been buried, leaving him with nowhere to go and little time to think, even with his speed. Luckily, the yellow lightning crackling around him lit the cramped up pocket he occupied after the buildings blocked out the Sun. Well, it was time to see if his new slew of powers included some form of his mightiest, most famous ability.

Rhino briefly opened his eyes as Bolt bent back his head and braced himself. The cramped up space had diminished to the point where a piece of building brushed against the dog's nose, but hopefully not for long.

 ***(** **(** (( **ARF!** )) **)** **)***

His bark pulverised a path through the falling structures directly above him. He grabbed Rhino's partially melted ball and leaped through the concrete-turned-dust, erupting from the top several storeys up before landing on the street with the shattered structure shrouded in a cloud of powder behind him.

Using a broken section of Rhino's ball as a mouth-hold, he trotted to the sidewalk where Dash stood and gently placed the hamster on the ground. Funny. He could almost swear he heard Rhino mutter the word "awesome ..."

 **"You're _BOLT_ the _SUPERDOG!"_** Dash squealed. **"My family is** ** _SO_** **adopting ALL of you!"**

"And thank **you** _so_ much for drawing attention to yourself!" the red rat chirped, secure in the knowledge that he had no idea what she was saying. "Remy, could you hold your breath, please?"

The blue rat nodded, sucked in a lung full of air and she leaned over Dash's forehead, throwing a Blue Berry into his face. It exploded into a cloud of fumes and the super shook his head in surprise.

"What was that?" he asked, more confused than concerned.

The excited gleam in his eyes quickly faded as the lids fluttered and his muscles began to go limp.

"That's it. Ease him down, Remy," she instructed.

The blue rat made sure that Dash's descent to the ground was as soft as possible before the boy was out like a light and was snoring to boot.

"There, now he can't follow us," she stated, dusting her paws.

"Care for a lift?" asked Bolt. "I think Rhino and Mittens will be fine for now if we leave for a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower."

"Oh, you're too kind," the red rat replied.

The moment they mounted him, his ears shifted and he froze on high alert ... then ducked as an open hand came speeding by, narrowly missing the rats. It was none other than GoGo Tomago. By the time she made a U turn to swoop in a second time, Bolt was already running in the opposite direction. Though his speed was considerable by dog standards, it was not nearly swiftly enough to outrun GoGo.

"Penny, say 'zoom zoom'," Bolt instructed, cracking an excited grin.

"Why?" asked the red rat.

"Come on, you'll _**love**_ it!" Bolt insisted with growing enthusiasm. "I've always wanted to do this for real! Say **'Bolt,** _**zoom zoom!'."**_

"Okay," she conceded. **"Bolt,** _ **zoom zoo-!"**_

She didn't even have to finish that command.

Remy had seen his share of sci-fi flicks, and he knew what it looked like when a star ship went into 'hyperdrive'. Everything, no matter how far or near, became an incomprehensible blur as it tore by with staggering speed. The red rat hadn't watched such sci-fi flicks, but even so they boasted nothing more than special effects on a rectangular screen. When Bolt turned her 'zoom zoom' command into action, there was nothing that could fully prepare them for the dizzying G-forces; the raging, pounding wind; backlashing turns and mind-numbing blurs of his terrifying, terrifying, blazing speed.

If GoGo's jaw hung when she saw Dash in action, it flat out hit the ground when Bolt vanished into the distance, leaving a stream of yellow lightning cracking in his wake.

Meanwhile, Dash's speedster physiology quickly eliminated the knock-out gas in his system. He awoke with a yelp, not quite knowing where the animals had gone, but one thing was certain: if he wanted to find them, far less _catch_ them, he needed help.

* * *

 **Yeah, I know it may seem a bit of a stretch to make the Speed Force responsible for Bolt's powers, but hear me out. Throughout The Flash's history, the Speed Force has been used for a LOT of things other than merely running fast. Applications include: lightning projection; enhanced durability; accelerated healing; infinite mass punches; phasing through walls; enhanced strength (through muscle growth acceleration); wind manipulation, and I'm not talking about simply running in a circle to create a cyclone; cloning; energy constructs; time travel; speed stealing; enhanced intelligence (Speed Mind); weird transformations via DNA vibration and the list goes on.** **In addition, there are three other fundamental forces in the DC universe that exist directly alongside the Speed Force, and yet the Speed Force, at various points in history, is shown to be capable of replicating aspects of them all.** **Needless to say, it's SHOCKINGLY versatile.**

 **Here they are the Easter eggs and references for this chapter. Do you think you can identify their sources?**

 **1\. Rhino: "Yeah! Feel every _PIECE_ o' that ball!"**

 **2\. Mitten's middle names (her last name is significant too, but I'll explain it below).**

 **3\. Rhino: "Give me a chance, maybe I'll grow on ya,"**

 **Red rat: "Yeah, like fungus."**

 **4\. Remy half-expected her to shout 'BRAIN BLAST!',**

 **5\. Dash: "That was strangely involuntary."**

 **6\. Dash: "You're right! I should _listen_ to you!"**

 **7\. Bolt: "Wait ... up in the sky, what is that?"**

 **Remy: "I think it's a bird."**

 **Red rat: "Or a plane."**

 **8\. Monster Baymax: {I'll be back.}**

 **9\. The phrase "terrifying, terrifying blazing speed."**

 **On a related note, I've read that Mittens is (apparently) of German descent. The last name I gave her, 'Schrödinger', is based on that of Erwin Schrödinger, a scientist from Austria (which is close to Germany). Why is that important? Because that scientist came up with an experiment called 'Schrödinger's Cat'. I won't go into the details, but that experiment involves quantum mechanics and a cat that, in theory, can be both fully dead and fully alive at the same time. It can be referred to as a paradox. That name is a nod to three things: her heritage, the simple fact that she's a cat, and the unique relationship she will soon have with potential death. You'll find out what I mean in later chapters.**

 **By the way, who, or _what,_ do you think the red rat is?**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10: Hot Potato

**Those of you who follow my "Jurassic Park: The Unseen Element" story, don't worry: the latest chapter is planned for the next post. Actually, it was supposed to come out today, but I hit a bit of a hiccup and haven't pushed past it yet. Sorry 'bout that. The reason why my fanfiction flow broke in the first place was due to a hard drive issue that made me lose access to a LOT of content, both in progress and written in advance. Anyway, given that this story will be much shorter than Unseen Element, it'd be nice to get it out of the way as fast as possible so that my focus can increase for the other stories (not that I don't enjoy this one).**

 **Anyway, there are a few goofs I made in previous chapters, like mistakenly indicating that Paris was a coastal city, and perhaps suggesting that there is a reasonable abundance of surface power lines in the city (it would seem that most of them are underground in real-Paris, based on what I could find online). Anyway, I've fixed the goofs, according to my knowledge, and the only other change I made that I can think of is that at one point Remy asks if the other rat is an alchemist. She tells him that she is not, but that her unearthly application of chemistry can make it appear to be the case. There's a reason for that, of course, but for now let's just say that she's so good at chemistry that her abilities border on the unrealistic. Of course, suspension of belief due to the fictional context helps a bit :).**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 10

Hot Potato

"I gotta hand it to you, Mom: you're stuck pretty good. We'll come back once we've got the rats, K?"

"Sorry, Honey. Our son has a point."

"Let me make this very clear: hubby, son or daughter, I don't care, **GET ME OUT IF HERE and I'll _GROUND_ YOU FOR LIFE or DIVORCE YOU!"**

"Uh, Mom? Don't you mean 'or'? There should be two 'ors' in that sentence, right?"

"Yeah, Sis. That seemed like a pretty crucial conjunction."

 **"I am** **_WAY_ past 'OR'!** ... Wait! **Kids!** **COME BACK!**... Uh oh ... **Nevermind!** **I'm sorry! BACK UP! _BACK UP!"_**

Elastigirl's chemical confines were shattered as Dash and Violet hammered through them. Their 'hammer' of choice? Well, in fact it was more like a vehicle - a ball of force field that enveloped the two kids. By her power, Violet levitated above Dash as she sustained the bubble, while he served as its living engine. This was the IncrediBall, and when the kids combined their powers like this, it seemed nothing could stop them short of an Omnidroid.

~((You're welcome, Mom,))~ Dash declared, his voice distorted by the force field around him. ~((Anyway, no time to lose! The rats are heading towards the Eiffel Tower, and they've recruited **_Bolt the Superdog_** ** _!_ ))~**

"Bolt the super- _who-now?_ " Elastigirl queried.

"You know he's not real, right?" questioned Mr. Incredible.

Apparently deciding that he'd wasted enough time, Dash zipped away and of course, being part of the IncrediBall, Violet was dragged along with him.

"Is it me, or is that thing faster than it was on Nomanisan Island?" asked Mr. Incredible.

"Maybe the kids found a way to improve it," Elastigirl suggested. "Which means they've been practicing," her shoulders drooped in annoyance, "which means they've been disobeying us."

"'Us' being used liberally ..." Mr. Incredible mumbled.

"Wasab- I mean 'Chop Chop' would give _both_ his kidneys to examine your daughter's force field!" Honey Lemon commented without really thinking.

The Incredibles had almost forgotten that Elastigirl's liberation had also freed the Big Hero. Now that they had turned their attention to her, Honey Lemon gave a sheepish smile and took a step back. In response, the supers stepped towards her.

"Um, truce?" squeaked Honey Lemon.

Baymax conveniently dove in and snatched her up, with Hiro, Wasabi and Fred already on board.

Mrs. Incredible rolled her eyes and shrugged before turning to her husband.

"Sling Leap?" she asked.

"I'd be much obliged," Mr. Incredible agreed.

Elastigirl vaulted onto her husband's shoulders in a piggyback position and wrapped her legs around his arms. He leapt clear out of the wrecking yard, landing on a nearby street, but even his incredible leaps would pale in comparison to what he and his wife could do in conjunction. Elastigirl stretched and latched onto the edge of a building. Mr. Incredible made quick steps backwards and his wife to elongated to the point of tautness, forcing him to dig his heels into the ground to keep from letting her retract prematurely.

"Okay, that's enough," Elastigirl declared. "Three ... two ... **ONE!"**

Mr. Incredible made a small hop and she slung him towards the building with staggering speed. Just as he passed the rooftop, he pounded his legs into the structure and they shot into the heavens with compounded force. Just as it seemed they would skim the clouds, Elastigirl expanded into a hang glider of sorts and they soared above the city. However, it seemed they were a little too high to spot the finer details of the world below, far less see their targets. Perhaps Elastigirl would have to swoop a little lower, she thought.

"Wait a minute ... what's **that?"** asked Mr. Incredible.

Even before he clarified his question by pointing, Elastigirl had spotted a spark of amber lightning streaking from street to street.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that's 'Bolt'," stated an incredulous Elastigirl.

"Well if that's the case, what's _that?"_ he went on with another point.

A good distance across the city, another stream of electricity shot along a train track, darting in and out of view as the path alternated between the surface and underground. Though unable to stray from the rails for some reason, there was no doubt that it was zeroing in on the yellow flash.

* * *

Bolt remembered the first time he had stuck his head out of a moving car's window and opened his mouth, after a little persuasion from Mittens. He would never forget the invigoration of wind racing across his tongue and up his nostrils, bearing its bounty of colourful scents. It was impossible to get tired of such a simple pleasure. However, it was _nothing_ compared the rush of blazing through Paris at over three hundred of miles per hour. Savoury scents and wondrous sights blasted by in a feast of the senses nigh-unimaginable to most except him ... and the rats on his back. Somehow, the lightning dancing off his fur was transferring a fraction of his Speed Force to them, so that they could comprehend and cope with his savage swiftness without ... well, dying. However, they didn't know that, so every time his lightning struck them, they thought they were in mortal peril, and that said nothing about the other, manifold dangers of moving this quickly. All but petrified by his speed, they scarcely managed to cling onto his collar. When he came to an abrupt stop, they did not. It was all they needed to loose their grip and fly away with the momentum.

 **"PENNY!"** Bolt shouted as the rats disappeared into the crowd.

Crowd? Yes, crowd. Apparently thinking that they were at a safe distance from the action, a plethora of people had gathered to watch the news coverage of the unfolding events on a big, building-mounted LED screen. Much to everyone's disappointment, the heroes were on the move, making it very hard for helicopters to keep them on camera. However, their interest was piqued when the cameras captured something new.

"Maybe it's The Flash!" someone suggested.

"The Flash isn't real," another reminded.

"Wait a minute ... **it was last spotted coming this way!"** an excited teen exclaimed. **"How cool is** **_that?"_**

Bolt cocked his head. 'Cool'? Not the word he would use. He was no expert on city-wide emergency procedures, but he imagined that the humans should at least evacuate to a much farther region of the city. Then again, no one was really in their right mind under the influence of the Omega Aroma.

Unfortunately for him, this heedless gathering blocking the entirety of the road was the reason why Bolt had to stop. Perhaps he could have woven a path through them, but his speed was like a match at the moment of ignition - a blazing flash that was all or nothing. Well, maybe he could learn to simmer down his power given a little time, but he didn't trust himself enough to speed through the crowd without injuring someone. It appeared he would have to find the rats the old-fashioned way.

 **"Penny! Penny!"** Bolt called.

The dog darted among the forest of legs, hoping to catch a familiar scent. No dice. There were simply too many unique human smells, exacerbated by colognes and perfumes. The red rat's fragrance loomed in the midst of it all, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. He closed his eyes as he focused on the scent, before bumping into a furry chest. Even before catching sight of the obstacle, he could tell by smell that he had encountered another dog. When he opened his eyes, he was forced to look up in order to return the gaze of the German Shepherd towering above him.

A flash of recognition peppered the bigger dog's features before he squinted down at Bolt in scrutinising examination.

"Oh, hi," Bolt began. "My apologies for impeding your path. Would you happen to have seen two rats around here? A red and a blue o-"

"What's your name?" interrupted the German Shepherd.

The smaller canine was momentarily derailed. "Bolt."

 **"I _knew_ it!" **proclaimed the other dog.

Bolt gave the big canine a quizzical stare.

 **"Do you _seriously_ have no idea who I am?" **asked the flabbergasted German Shepherd.

"Uh, _should_ I?" Bolt ventured.

The large dog placed a self-important paw on his chest with a theatrical air.

 ** _"I'm_** the face of Kanine Krunchies!

 ** _Star_** of a classic T.V. series loved by millions!

 ** _Saviour_** of a hundred dalmatians from that _dastardly_ Cruella Deville woman!

 _ **Thunderbolt,** **the One of a Kind Canine Hero!"**_

Finally, it rang a bell.

"Oh, right. I've heard of you," Bolt stated. "Maybe we can talk later?"

Without waiting for an answer, Bolt trotted away, shouting **"PENNY!"** Thunderbolt rapidly intercepted him.  
 **  
"Maybe we can talk _now!"_** the German Shepherd forcefully declared. "I've been around since you were chewin' **_puppy chow,_** and you have the _audacity_ to call yourself **'Bolt'!"**

"Oh, I see where you're going with this," Bolt began, attempting to remain civil. "Look, it was never my intention to rip you off. I didn't name myself 'Bolt', but in a way we're like brothers. Rhino- I mean, a friend of mine says that my T.V. series is considered a spiritual successor to yours, so-"

"A **cheap derivative, _that's_** what it is!" declared Thunderbolt. "Read my lips: **I'm. 'One. Of. A. Kind.'** You **_sullied_** my legacy with your **_cheesy,_ super hero theatrics! **I didn't **_need_ super powers** to save **one hundred dalmatian puppies!"**

Bolt was losing his patience: "Please. I really gotta go. Let's finish this debate on the Twilight Bark, okay? **PENNY!"**

Surprise, surprise, Thunderbolt continued his tirade nonetheless, but Bolt tried to blank it out with a good measure of success. It was a mental technique he had learned in his television training, allowing him to focus his senses on a specific task - in this case, picking up any clue as to where the rats were. Though sight was of some value here, touch and taste were obviously useless. Smell and hearing would probably be most effective, but nonetheless he focused all six senses. Wait a minute ... sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing: there were _five_ senses, not six. Why on Earth had the number 'six' popped into his head? Perhaps if the world would stop shifting around him, he would be able to think a little more clearly. It seemed that's what he got for harnessing his newfound speed without acclimatising to it first. Strange … if this was motion sickness, then why didn't he feel 'sick'? Bolt closed his eyes and focused on the sensation, and in his mind's eye the shifting feelings began to take unique forms. They were the idle gestures of humans all around; the ripples racing through the air with every sound; the atoms and molecules juddering on the spot within the ground; the winds and the invisible paths that they wound. _Everything_ was moving! Even what stood still was vibrating at its own frequency! This wasn't motion sickness, it was some kind of _motion sixth sense!_

It occurred to him that if he focused this 'Motion Sixth Sense' on finding the rats, he would be able to pin down their position. He quickly discovered that he could feel the general ambience of everything around him, but it was hard to pick up the location of specific objects unless they moved in some notable way. The faster they moved, the easier it was to track them. Maybe the rats weren't moving, or maybe he simply hadn't locked onto them yet. Wait ... he could feel their little heads turning, bodies slightly swaying! They were standing on a streetlight, looking for him!

 **"I'm coming, Penny!"** Bolt declared, attempting to take off and yet again colliding with Thunderbolt's chest.

 **"Are you even _listening_ to me?"** demanded the German Shepherd. "What do you have to **_say_** for yourself?"

Bolt sighed, and it was all he could do to keep from exploding. "Okay, you win. I'm a jerk and I've ruined your legacy. Now, if it's all the same to you, please excuse me."

Thunderbolt was temporarily taken aback by Bolt's sudden surrender. However, his surprise quickly turned to disdain.

"Just as I thought," concluded the German Shepherd. "You'll unblinkingly derail a locomotive when you have a _screen_ to hide behind, but in the end you're all bark but no bite. You-"

 ***( (** (( **BARK!** )) **) )***

That booming sound surprised even Bolt, and he might have wondered where it came from if he didn't feel it blasting from his own maw. The crowd parted in awe and Thunderbolt's eyes popped as he froze in stunned silence. It seemed Bolt had reached his boiling point and vented it before he had a chance to think. Luckily, he'd instinctively angled his head into the air so as to avoid collateral damage. It seemed he'd even had the presence of mind to narrow his bark so that it didn't fan out and obliterate anyone's head or torso. Still, he would have to work on self control now that he had a thunderstorm in his mouth.

"Heh. I guess I'm all bark," Bolt stated with a sheepish chuckle.

"Point taken," Thunderbolt whimpered, slinking away with his tail between his legs.

 **"Bolt! Over here!"** called Remy as he and his companion climbed down from the streetlight.

The crowd made way as the superdog ran towards them, still abstaining from using his speed for fear of endangering civilians. The moment he had a clear path, he would zip to them and leave the scene with equal rapidity. However, Bolt's Motion Sixth Sense was picking up a figure rushing in with superhuman swiftness.

A disc alight with electric fervour shot between Bolt and the rats, causing the dog to stop short as it split the Earth before him.

"It's **GoGo!"** shouted an excited member of the crowd.

The canine and rodents looked to see the aforementioned Big Hero skid to a stop atop a train track elevated a short distance above ground. Brimming with electrical power channelled from the track's third rail beneath her, she was every bit as dangerous as she appeared to be.

 **"Heel, boy!"** GoGo commanded as her disc returned to her arm.

Bolt raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What say you, Penny?"

The red rat picked up her cue. "How 'bout zoom z-?"

Again, Bolt's ravenously rapid response cut off her command. With a trail of yellow lightning flying off his tail, he leapt above the crowd and landed on clear road. However, scarcely had he hit the ground before another supercharged disc gouged the street just behind him. Before the Big Hero could launch a fresh attack, Bolt was off like a shot.

GoGo frowned. She'd been fortunate to encounter surface power lines to travel in the past, but they were quite hard to come by in a city where most of the electricity was hidden underground. For the moment, she would have to stick to the train tracks, drawing energy from the third rail. Her regular speed (if you could call it 'regular') simply wasn't enough to contend with the likes of Bolt. However, she'd downloaded a map of the city's train system into her H.U.D. Now that Bolt trailed lightning as he ran, she could use her suit's new, unique sensors to trace his electromagnetic pulses.

"Thank you, MagnetEyes," GoGo muttered.

So long as Bolt was using his speed, she would easily be able to follow his movements. It would only be a matter of time before she traced the dog to a place where the train tracks overlapped with his path.

With burst of lightning, she set off with such swiftness that she almost seemed to vanish.

* * *

Bolt gave a growl of frustration quickly absorbed by the whipping wind. He'd lost a lot of time, as well as his bearings. If he didn't get back on track fast, the heroes might converge on him, and he didn't want to discover what it was like when eleven berserk heroes ganged up on one superdog.

The canine rounded a corner and his eyes bulged at what he saw. Wrong turn! **Wrong turn!**

He attempted to change direction, but mid-turn the object of his concern slammed into his side - the IncrediBall. The impact sent him flying, but he regained his senses enough to hit the side of a building running. The IncrediBall stayed in step with him as he raged from wall to wall, somehow remaining fixed to the faces of the buildings despite the law of gravity. His tactical mind quickly surmised that the IncrediBall wasn't agile enough to follow him if he stayed above ground, so moving across the tops of the buildings was a good way to shake it off his tail.

The dog turned up the wall, reached the roof and leapt to the next, and the next, so on and so forth. Sure, Dash had managed to follow GoGo when she moved in such a way, but Bolt's considerably superior speed made him very difficult to tail. Bolt's lips lifted in a grin as he sighted the Eiffel Tower, but they fell in a frown as he also sighted the Monster Baymax jetting in, carrying most of the Big Hero 6.

Hold on ... what was that underground? According to his his Motion Sixth Sense, it was long ... rolling along a steady path. It took him a fraction of a second to identify it as a subway train.

Okay. Time to try something new.

Bolt streaked down the side of a building just as Fred's flames enveloped the roof, lapping at his tail in brief wave of fire. It occurred to the canine that smashing through the road above the subway would litter the tracks with rubble - which was ideal, if his goal was to cause a catastrophic crash. So, what was the best way to reach the subway?

Vibrate.

That thought popped into his mind with little explanation, like an instinct. The dog was uncertain of the rationale behind the idea. Nonetheless, he reached the stretch of road atop the subway, halted and began to vibrate. Nope, nothing was happening, until his subconscious suggested a specific frequency and he adjusted his vibration to suit.

"Uh, Bolt?" warned the red rat.

He could feel it as much as she saw it: a blast of kinetically charged particles roaring towards him, A.K.A. Fred's fire breath.

The flames swallowed up the spot where Bolt stood and once they cleared, there was nothing in his place. It appeared that the blast had completely incinerated him and the rats, prompting an unbridled scream of horror from Hiro. It took Honey Lemon a few precious moments to calm down the boy enough to point out an underground blip on their H.U.D.s, representing the canine and rats.

"Good thing GoGo linked our heads-ups to her MagnetEyes," Honey Lemon stated. "I don't think my ChemiCal would get a good reading through the ground."

 **{The canine and rodents' health remains unchanged,}** Monster Baymax stated.

"How is that **_possible?"_** asked Wasabi. "It's not like they can ** _walk through walls!"_**

It turned out that's exactly what Bolt could do. Once his vibration frequency reached the sweet spot, he had slipped right through the ground.

"That felt ... really weird ..." the red rat announced.

"Eh, it wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" asked Bolt.

 _"Uuugh_ ... *hick*," Remy groaned in queasy discomfort.

"Okay, I stand corrected," Bolt stated. "Hey, if you're gonna hurl, do me a solid, head to the back of the ride, lean out, and go for distance."

Shooting through the subway, Bolt hoped to throw off the heroes by surfacing a good distance off. It seemed like a solid plan, but his hope quickly dulled as he sensed a familiar figure inflamed in electrons and closing in from ahead of him. Half a second later, he could see her coming - GoGo. Just when it seemed the two speedsters would collide, Bolt surged up the wall and onto the ceiling. She leapt, but her hands fell just short as he passed overhead. Having returned to the track, the dog sped away from her, but ... something didn't feel right.

It was then when he realised that he could no longer detect the rats clinging to his back, and focused his sixth sense on GoGo to find her holding them as she raced in the opposite direction. With an irritated shake of the head, he turned on a dime and shot after the Big Hero.

GoGo looked over-shoulder to find the dog closing in. Hmm ... narrow space, electrical power source - _perfect._ She couldn't have asked for better conditions.

The tunnel was alive with dancing lights as GoGo sent ricocheting, electrified discs back at the dog, who left a trail of zigzagging lightning as he dodged too many close calls for comfort. He was gaining on her, but they were also catching up with something big, long and familiar to his sixth sense. It didn't take a genius to figure out the collateral damage that might occur if they reached it in the heat of battle.

Distracted by the thought of upcoming obstacle, Bolt was a split-second too slow to dodge GoGo's latest attack. The disc collided with his face and he yelped, falling behind and disappearing into the distance.

GoGo smiled in satisfaction before hearing a massive object moving ahead of her. She looked to see a train, but luckily it was heading in the opposite direction. Then her scanners picked up something of greater interest speeding from behind her.

She looked back to see Bolt zooming in with a vengeance, her disc in his mouth. However, as opposed to her white electricity, it was blazing with his amber lightning.

 **"Fetch!"** he commanded.

With that, he hurled the disc with blinding speed and it struck GoGo's arm, causing her to drop the rightly screaming rats. He zipped beneath the rodents and they landed on his back, clinging on. Then he raged ahead of the Big Hero as she struggled to avoid spinning out of control.

GoGo managed to steady herself just in time to see Bolt reach the train, but instead of going around it, he leapt and vibrated right through the ceiling, drawing a confused look from the Big Hero.

"Okay, so he can phase through walls," she commented with an air of sarcasm. "That makes perfect sense. Yup."

The dog popped out of the surface and cut through a few, convoluted little cobblestone roads. Surely that gave him a little breathing space, right? A pair of elastic arms debated his assumption by stretching in and yet again the rats were snatched off his back.

 ** _*( ( BOOOM! ) )*_**

Mr. Incredible landed right in front of him, cracking road. If that wasn't bad enough, Baymax had arrived and apparently decided that ousting Mr. Incredible as his rival was the smartest move at the time. However, Mr. Incredible was ready, thanks to his rapid reaction time. The super man and the mega bot's fists collided with catastrophic results.

 ** _*( (_** _( **KA-BOOOOOM!** ) **)**_ **_)*_**

At first, the sheer kinetic chaos of the impact overloaded Bolt's Motion Sixth Sense. It took him a brief moment to comprehend what had happened, but when he did, it seemed as though the world had fallen apart. Shattered fragments of road rose skyward like tiny landmasses set to drift in a world without gravity. As absurd as it was, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl and the Big Heroes, with the exception of GoGo, were clashing upon the flying pieces as if each fragment were their own miniature arena. Clinging to the nearest fragment of street, Bolt accelerated his brain to the point where the world seemed to creep. A quick glance told him that Elastigirl had her hands free. She'd probably dropped the rats in the chaos, and now she was facing off with Honey Lemon. The canine closed his eyes and focused his Motion Sixth sense. Given their small sizes and the many bits of debris, his eyes couldn't weed them out, even if they were in sight. That put the weight of the entire task on his sixth sense, but again so much was going on that it was hard to zero in on a single thing. His mind waded through the confusion, examining every small object that could possibly be a rat. Then, Bolt's eyes shot open.

He had found them.

An explosion of motion and Bolt was on a piece of road beneath the rats who flailed through the air. Remy clutched his collar with one paw and grabbed the other rodent's arm with the other. Scarcely had the rats secured their grips before Bolt blazed his way down the little landmasses and hit the road running.

 **"Home free, _woohoo!"_** the red rat cheered. "Ain't **_no_** way they're gonna follow us soon after **_that!"_**

"I sure hope so," Bolt replied. "Um ... by the way, is someone pulling my ear?"

"Yeah, that was me," Remy admitted. "I thought a victory 'toot toot' would be in order, but that makes absolutely no sense in this situation so I'll settle for a triumphant **_'HUZZAH!'_** Wait a minute ... Are those snow flakes? Is it snowing?"

The girl's response was quick and dismissive. "Nope. Nuh uh. No, it's not. Don't tell me."

"Yes it is!" Remy argued. "That suggests _pizzazz,_ and pizzazz suggests _Frozone!"_

"I said **'don't _tell_ me'!"** she snapped.

A sheet of ice spread across the road. Bolt attempted to skid into a turn, but he couldn't get past the skidding part. So, what next? The freezing tsunami heading his way quickly answered that. Good thing Bolt had an answer of his own.

 ***( (** (( **ARF!** )) **) )***

The icy wave was blown apart in a blast of mist that filled the streets.

Frozone waited on his building perch, arm outstretched and poised to freeze whatever emerged from the chilly clouds. He knew that the icy sheen glazing the road would make it difficult for Bolt to turn, speedster or no speedster. That left only one direction for the dog to slide in - right into his trap. The moment he caught the Bolt's amber flash emerging from the mist, he would stop this little chase cold. Before long, he saw the lightning, but he didn't expect it to pierce the clouds in twin bolts coming straight at him.

 **"Whoa!"** Frozone yelped.

He dove clear of the lightning and came to rest in a crouch just in time to see Bolt exit the mist, melting a path across the frozen road with the lightning that snaked from his eyes.

Frozone gave a low whistle. He was impressed: this mutt had the tactical skill of a trained super. However, despite his plethora of powers, he was only one dog. It was just a matter of time before that fact came to fore.

* * *

Bolt slowed to a halt beside a fountain, under the shelter of trees in a quaint, little park.

"Why are we stopping?" asked the red rat.

Then she noticed Bolt's subtly strained breathing and the way he looked about with uncertainty. Body language alone made it evident that he was tired and confused.

"I'm reviewing our options," he explained. "My head's turned and I have no idea where we are. If we continue, I could well be running in the wrong direction. Reaching high ground would make it easier to spot the Eiffel Tower, but that would give the airborne robot an equally easier job finding us. We could go underground, but you know how well that went the last time. If I run willy nilly, the telltale lightning I give off will help the Big Heroes spot us from the sky."

"So, you're saying we're stuck?" asked Remy.

Bolt hesitated. "I just need a moment to think, that's all."

The dog noticed Frozone's icy column rise into the sky, leaving a path of white hanging in the air that spelled: "TEAM UP?"

Spotting Baymax jetting in the distance, Bolt hid behind a tree and watched as the robot replied with a trail of exhaust in skywriting: "YES".

Bolt's ears and tail fell, weighed down by the hopelessness of the situation.

"I'm sorry, Penny," he apologised, and his body language said the rest. Even in despondency, his posture hardened with resolve. He would run. He would fight. He would push himself to the brink of the impossible, but at the end of the day, he wasn't sure if he was strong enough.

A long, downcast moment passed. Then she removed a pair of virtually identical, colourful chemical berries from her bag and pressed them into Remy's paws with a meaningful look in her eyes. Remy recognised them as resembling the one that would reverse the Omega Aroma, but ... why were there two of them?

"Can you tell the difference between these?" she asked. "It can only be discerned by an exceptional sense of smell, like ours."

He lifted the berries to his snout and sniffed them one at a time. Their scents were weak at best. However, he could not differentiate between them.

"No, they smell exactly the same to me," he stated.

She anxiously bounced on the spot. "The difference is subtle, but you can do it! Try again. Try _harder."_

He did as she asked, and though he focused every iota of his brain on the task, his second attempt was no more successful than the first.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I can't smell the difference. Bolt, what about you?"

He held the berries before the dog's face and the canine took a few sniffs.

"I can't even smell them _at all,"_ Bolt stated.

The hope in her eyes died and Remy wished he'd made a better effort.

"It's- it's okay," Remy quickly assured. "Just give me another chance!"

She slowly took back the berries, placing them in the bag once again. "You've done more than I could ever ask of you. _Both_ of you. The heroes want me, not you, and I was hoping you could finish this without me, but the cancelling formula comes in two chemical berries. You would have had to administer them in a very specific order, but since you can't tell the difference between them ... well ... I guess this starts with me and it ends with me."

Bolt felt a tiny weight disappear from his back as the red rat hopped to the ground and away she walked.

"You intend to finish this on your own?" asked the dog. "Penny, we've been over this-"

 **"I'm not _Penny!"_** she exploded, whirling around at the dog. **"Seriously, I _cringe_ every time you call me that!"**

Bolt stared, stock-still. It was the closest he came to wincing. On the other hand, Remy was visibly taken aback by her outburst. Then his eyes flitted about as he scoured his mind for her name. It occurred to him that she'd somehow dodged the subject since they met.

"Then what _are_ we supposed to call you?" asked Remy.

Her anger evaporated as her gaze glazed over and she froze. Remy caught the slightest glint in her eyes before she blinked it away.

"You don't have to call me anything," she declared. "If I can help it, you'll never see me again. I'm sorry, I'm not angry at you so much as frustrated with myself. From my earliest memory to the present, every life I touch, I damage or destroy. At first, I thought it was a fluke. Now, it's evidently a constant; like a law of nature. Is it my fault? Yes, yes it must be, but the thing is I have no idea _how_ to break the cycle. Stick by me and I _promise_ you'll regret it. For what it's worth, sorry for all the trouble I caused. So ... anyway, bye. Please don't follow me."

She turned to leave, but Remy darted in front of her.

"If Bolt couldn't evade the heroes, how will _you?"_ he asked.

"We managed to stay ahead of them before," she argued. "I can do it again."

 _"Barely,"_ countered Remy, "and now that they're working together, what chance do you have?"

She ignored him and continued on, before Remy blocked her once again.

"We're wasting time," she stated, beginning to heat up again. "There's nothing left to say, so please-"

 **"No,"** he interrupted. "You're the most **incredible** rodent I've ever met, but this is bigger than you. None of us is strong enough to do this alone, but if we _work together,_ we won't have to be."

Faster than thought, a blur snatched up the rats and a force field lifted Bolt off the ground.

"Got 'em!" Dash declared.

"Good," responded Violet. "I'll detain Bolt. You take the rats back to Mom and Dad!"

Dash gave a quick salute and was off.

 ***( (** (( **BARK!** )) **) )***

Violet grunted as her force field containing Bolt swelled. However, it didn't break, and Bolt took the full force of his own sonic attack as it backfired, leaving him momentarily unconscious.

Suddenly, Violet's brother zipped back onto the scene and tackled Violet to the ground.

 **"DASH!"** she growled in confusion and outrage, wrestling him. **"What are you _DOING?"_**

 **"The blue rat on my head!"** Dash exclaimed. **"He's _controlling_ me again! Get him off!"**

Violet didn't know if she subscribed to that seemingly ridiculous statement, but nonetheless she trapped the rats in a force bubble that scooped them off of Dash's head. It wasn't hard to simultaneously focus her force fields on the rodents and dog, until the canine awoke. When Dash had told her that 'Bolt' had joined the battle royale, she honestly wasn't sure what to believe. Sure, he looked like Bolt, and he was indubitably powerful, but 'Bolt the Superdog' was a fictional character. Perhaps some crazy scientist had created some kind of knockoff. Maybe one of the Big Hero 6 brainiacs was even responsible. After all, the Bolt from television never shed lightning when he ran. However, when she when caught sight of Bolt's intense gaze, she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that, somehow, this was the real deal.

The piercing effect of his eyes escalated as they began to glow amber.

Violet yelped as Bolt unleashed upon the force field a focused stream of narrow, jagged lightning. Needing to concentrate all her energy on containing him, she released the rats. Upon hitting the ground, the red one quickly prepared to throw chemical sphere, only for her and Remy to be interrupted by a charge from Dash. Once they rolled out of the way, the female tossed a Blueberry to Violet's feet and turned her attention to dodging and counterattacking the speedster.

Though Violet had no clue what the fumes from the Blueberry would do, she held her breath as they reached her face, arms outstretched as she fought to contain Bolt.

The dog could sense the energy that composed her force field: the way it raced to the spot where his lightning opposed it. So, she could concentrate her power in specific areas of the barrier? Good to know. He increased his effort and the narrow, electric blast spread into bolts that danced throughout the bubble. Growing in volts by the hundred thousand, the lightning filled the sphere and Violet gnashed her teeth as her arms began to quiver. Her power flickered before she bolstered it with a scream of exertion and it flickered no more. Despite the strain, her resolve was impressive. Whose exhaustion would get the better of them first? Neither she nor he intended to find out. She rapidly shrank the force field in a crushing attack, but his speedy brain processed the danger before it could reach him. It was time for the knockout blow.

 ***( (** (( **ARF!** )) **) )***

Bolt's bark shredded the force field and tore grass, soil and all from the ground to the sky in an epic cloud.

The dog slumped in a moment of fatigue before picking up himself and scanning for the rats. They weren't moving, otherwise his sixth sense would have picked them up. If not for the dust cloud, he might have been able to see them, unless his bark had inadvertently blasted them to oblivion. Not a pretty thought.

"Penny? Remy?" asked Bolt.

"We're okay," Remy stated.

The red rat tried to answer, but coughed instead, thanks to the dust. However, the sharp movement of her coughing body combined with the rodents' sounds was enough to help Bolt pinpoint their position. He took a step towards them.

Then he froze, ears up, head turned, eyes peeled.

 **...**

In a flash, he was in front of the rats, planting his feet in the bare soil as the IncrediBall charged from the veil of cloud.

"Okay, let's end this," he muttered in a light growl.

Lowering his head, he was ready to absorb the full force of the IncrediBall with his skull. No matter how hard the hit, he refused to be moved.

It was an age old question: "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" In the deceptive world of his television series, Bolt was truly indestructible. Sure, you could knock him around if you caught him off guard, but his one weakness, the only thing he had to lose, was his mortal owner, Penny. There was no conceivable way to move him if he refused to be moved, and it seemed many of his real-life powers were similar to their television counterparts (if not superior). He was amazingly tough, to be sure. He also knew that he could experience pain, but it took another lesson from the IncrediBall to drive home the point.

He was not invincible. Not by a long shot.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Here's the list of references and Easter Eggs for this chapter. Can you figure out their sources? If so, review and reveal them!**

 **1) Dash's statement: "That seemed like a pretty crucial conjunction."**

 **2) Thunderbolt (easy one).**

 **3) The Twilight Bark (also a giveaway).**

 **4) Bolt's request: "Hey, if you're gonna hurl, do me a solid, head to the back of the ride, lean out, and go for distance."**

 **5) Remy's explanation: "I thought a victory 'toot toot' would be in order, but that makes absolutely no sense in this situation ..."**

 **6) Remy's encouragement: "... If we _work together,_ we won't have to be."**


	11. Chapter 11: LET IT BEGIN!

**Happy New Year!**

* * *

Chapter 11

LET IT BEGIN!

"Nope ... Nuh uh ... No ... No ... Nope ... _Aaaand_ nope ..."

That voice ebbed into Mittens' mind as her consciousness returned like the slow rise of the dawning Sun. She recognised it as Rhino's voice, but the hard surface on which she lay was uncharacteristically comfortable. Acknowledging Rhino and whatever he was up to would have to wait. All she wanted to do was lie there for at least a few more minutes. At the back of her mind, she asked herself why she was there in the first place.

Her eyes popped open.

 **"We got** ** _electrocuted_** **to DEATH!"** Mittens shrieked as she sprang to her feet.

Rhino chuckled knowingly. "Yet you feel more alive than ever, am I right? Nope ... Nope."

She wrinkled her brow as she realised that the hamster was right. She felt light, as if she weighed less than ever, but that lightness was not accompanied by the sensation of starvation that (sadly by experience) she usually associated with being underweight. Instead, she felt as though she were a spring full of pent up energy begging to be released. Before she even knew what she was doing, Mittens obliged that 'begging' by leaping as high as she could. Indeed, cats could make very impressive jumps, but her leap was scarcely more impressive than that of a normal feline.

Rhino glanced back at her. "Not exactly a 'super jump', but we can work on that. No ... No ... Nada ... Zilch."

Mittens found herself wondering what exactly _he_ was working on, and turned to find Rhino in front of a T.V. screen. Rhino's obsession with television was no secret, but how had he managed to get a hold of one on a Parisian sidewalk? She opened her mouth to ask him that, but the question caught in her throat when she noticed that the T.V. screen was just that - a screen: no base to stand on, no plastic frame, no buttons. Just a screen. It floated in the air like some manner of hologram, but it carried an electric quality that suggested something more than a construct of light. Mittens approached the screen and discovered that instead of pixels, tiny strands of coloured lightning were congealing to form the changing scenes that it displayed. With a slight frame of red lightning, those scenes featured various areas within Paris, and every time Rhino said 'nope' or something to that effect, the image changed as if he were surfing from channel to channel by remote ... but there was no remote.

With tentative steps, Mittens reached Rhino and discovered that his eyes were casting thin streams of scarlet lightning that fed into the screen, seemingly powering it. He smiled at her, which, combined with the glow of his eyes, created an unintentionally eerie effect.

"Cool, huh?" he asked rhetorically. "I call it 'Tele Vision', for obvious reasons."

With that, he continued his 'channel surfing', leaving her to cope with the outlandish strangeness of the situation. It took her a moment to find her voice.

"R-Rhino ...?" Mittens stammered, although she couldn't articulate the words finish that question.

"Long story short, I think the power line shock gave us super powers," Rhino explained. "Bolt has a super bark for real now. He used it to save us from the collapsing buildings, so maybe his powers are the same as they were on television ... or maybe not. He was giving off this awesome yellow lightning. That's never happened before. You gotta see it!"

"Um ... uh ..." Mittens faltered. "Where _is_ Bolt?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out now - I'm channel-surfing the city," Rhino explained as he continued to flip from scene to scene. "No ... Nope ... Hold it! Back up."

Rhino flipped back to an image of what was once perhaps a decent park, if not for the rampant destruction. There, the Big Hero 6 and The Incredibles stood around a small mountain of ice and gunky chemicals all engulfed in a bubble of force field. They spoke among themselves, some even scratching their heads as if unsure of what to do with the strange object before them.

"What am I even looking at?" asked a confused Rhino. "Okay, rewind."

The visuals reversed with incredible speed before pausing a few minutes into the past. There was Bolt, standing before the rats with a Violet and Dash-powered IncrediBall tearing towards them. Bolt lowered his head and Mittens winced as the force field collided with his skull in a shattering impact. However, Bolt held his ground.

 **"Oh ho** ** _ho!"_** Rhino exclaimed, clapping his paws with pure, puerile delight. "Invulnerability **_confirmed!"_**

* * *

Furiously kicking up soil and grass, the IncrediBall spun like a wheel stuck in the mud, never budging. Bolt's muscles were rigid, but he grit his teeth as the IncrediBall continued to press into head. The pain on his face was evident.

* * *

 _"Ooh!"_ Rhino grimaced. "Okay, maybe not _'invulnerability'_ \- enhanced durability perhaps."

* * *

Bolt felt as though every muscle in his body were screaming, and he screamed back. To make matters worse, his Motion Sixth Sense was picking up incoming heroes-turned-savage. He had to have his paws free, _fast,_ but how could he overpower this thing? In short, he couldn't.

The dog slipped his head beneath the force field and it briefly rolled onto his back before he flipped it into the air, sending Violet and Dash clear out of the park, shrieking all the way. They would be okay, but Bolt wasn't quite sure about himself.

 **( (** (( **ARF!** )) **) )**

Bolt barked back an arctic blast from Frozone and it solidified inches from his face as a mass of icicles reaching backwards like spiked, windswept hair. The dog's outline vibrated to a blur before he darting into the ice, only to unexpectedly stop short as he bumped into it.

"Evidently I can't phase through ice," Bolt noted. "Bummer."

* * *

Rhino tilted his head like a connoisseur analysing the sight before him. So, Bolt could vibrate through walls? This was new.

* * *

 **( (** (( **ARF!** )) **) )**

The icy mass shattered at the sound of Bolt's explosive bark. On the opposite side of it, frozen chunks rained upon Frozone and Fred. The former conjured up an ice barrier to shield himself and Fred from the falling slabs, but the Big Hero was a little too impatient to simply take cover amid the monstrous hail.

"I've got this, Zone!" Fred assured before leaping into the midst of the falling ice.

The Big Hero's fire breath blazed a path through the debris as he hopped from piece to piece, until he hit a roadblock - Bolt. The playback seemed to slow as the superdog emerged from Fred's flames in a pounce, unscathed. Then he landed atop the Big Hero and kicked off of him, sending him flying into a tree. Not a moment later, Bolt had touched down in front of Frozone. His speech may have been unintelligible to humans, but his growl like a brewing thunderstorm made his message clear: 'stand down or face the consequences'.

 _"Heyyy,"_ Frozone coolly responded, raising his hands in an apparent show of surrender.

Suddenly, icy blasts burst from Frozone's palms, seemingly turning the canine to an icicle. Knowing how strong the superdog was, Frozone continued to lay on the ice, layer after layer. Despite his best efforts, the earth shook beneath him. What exactly was Bolt up to?

The canine erupted from the ground a few yards away, having dug into the soil a split second before the freezing blast hit. His eyes ignited like yellow infernos before unleashing streams of lightning. However, that lightning never touched Frozone, but struck the earth near enough to the super to blast him off his feet.

* * *

"That's ... not laser eyes," Rhino commented, a small smile tugging at his lips.

* * *

Baymax touched down and the rest of the Big Hero 6 disembarked him. In spite of their numbers, they knew that this superdog could trounce them if they didn't hit fast and hard. Honey Lemon raised a chem ball destined for the canine, but was surprised to find herself surrounded by explosions of purple mist. She instinctively held her breath and activated her suit's breathing apparatus before it reached her. Her first thought? Somehow, some of her chem balls had escaped her purse. After all, colourful chemical clouds were really her style.

 **"NO!** **I'm not ready yet!"** GoGo blurted out. "Get that mic away from me! **I'm not ready for the podium!"**

 **"Pink elephants!** **_Pink elephants!"_** Hiro exclaimed.

 **"Did you see the sign?!"** Wasabi screamed. **"This park is saturated with** ** _pesticide! Everyone OFF THE GRASS!"_**

If Wasabi were the only one suffering a neurotic meltdown, Honey Lemon might have written off the screaming as relatively normal. However, Hiro and GoGo were a different story. While GoGo's stage fright was no secret, Honey Lemon did not expect Hiro's phobia to be so ... unusual. Clearly, they were hallucinating - seeing their worst fears brought to life. It didn't take a ChemiCal analysis to figure out that the mist was responsible, and the mist's source was as clear as the tiny figure throwing what appeared to be mini chem balls that expanded and gunked up Baymax's jets and joints the moment he tried to fly. So, the red rat was responsible? This critter was full of surprises! A little knockout gas would keep her out of trouble, though.

"Sorry, lil' fella ..." Honey Lemon muttered as she readied her chem ball.

The rodent's sharp ears flicked towards her. Maybe she shouldn't have said that.

With a quick toss, Honey Lemon's chem ball went flying at the rat, only to burst midway when the rodent met it with an explosive chemical of her own. More projectiles came the Big Hero's way. If not for her ChemiCal, she would never have spotted them. If not for her armour upgrades, she would never have avoided them.

Back and forth, the human and rodent traded chem balls and berries, narrowly escaping each other's attacks. One of the advantages to being a rodent was that small animals tended to possess incredibly swift reflexes. Combined with skill and athleticism, those reflexes made that rat an incredibly difficult target.

* * *

 **"Check those** ** _moves!"_** Rhino cheered. "I'm telling ya, she's _'The One'_ , Mittens!"

* * *

Despite the red rat's strengths, she was limited to what she had in her bag, while Honey Lemon could create a plethora of chemical effects on a whim: from crystalline shields and bubble barriers to icy bursts and bouncy bulbs fashioned after kitty squishies (no lie). Bit by bit, the rodent found that she was losing ground. Finally, the rat fell with a squeak when Honey Lemon's latest attack covered the grass with slippery ice.

With deft fingers, the Big Hero punched a formula into her purse and it produced a pale chem ball. After pelting that ball onto the floor, its mist quickly dissipated the purple smoke. After a few moments, the Big Heroes began to calm down and turn their attention to the red rat. It didn't help matters that Baymax had managed to remove the last of the disabling gunk from his body.

"Uh oh," the rat whimpered.

Hiro stepped forward, but Baymax held him back.

"Huh? Buddy, what are you-? Let **go!"** demanded Hiro.

 **{Do you wish to be crushed by a flying tree?}** asked the robot.

 **"Yes!** I mean **no!** I mean ... **_What?_** **"** asked Hiro.

The aforementioned flying tree came crashing down between the heroes and the rat. Grasping its base was Mr. Incredible himself, who had carried it there with a leap. He swung the tree like a madman, keeping the Big Heroes at bay.

"What part of _'alliance'_ **don't you understand?!"** Demanded GoGo.

"It's not me!" Mr. Incredible explained. "It's the rat on my head!"

Sure enough, Remy was there, pulling his hair like the strings of a puppeteer, until Elastigirl darted in with an stretching leap and entrapped Mr. Incredible with her elastic limbs. One problem, though: once he was immobilised, she was scratching her head, wondering to where on Earth the rat had disappeared? Rather, she _would_ have scratched her head if it were more convenient. That would have led to the discovery of who was on top of it, but the minuscule weight on her skull and tiny paws pulling hair were enough to help her put two and two together. Remy smiled. She wasn't the only flexible one here.

Much to the rat's surprise, Elastigirl had some extra stretch in her coiled limbs and used it to snatch at him. He tugged her hair and diverted her hand, but it made a U bend and latched onto him from behind. Something was wrong - unlike Dash's speed and Mr. Incredible's strength, he had no idea how to control her power! It wasn't a simple matter of motor skills.

Holding on with all his might, the rat twisted a few strands of her hair and her fingers released him. Okay, Plan B. She stretched her neck high into the air before rapidly withdrawing, throwing Remy off of it. The blue rat fell, flailing helplessly until the soft glob of a Tigger Berry cushioned his fall and he bounced to the ground, skidding across the grass face down.

The red rat was at his side in an instant. "You okay?" she asked.

"My left eyelid peeled off," he stated, his face remaining flat on the grass.

"Great, that- **Your eyelid** ** _WHAT?!"_** she shrieked.

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed, getting up with little more than a grass stain. "Although I think I swallowed a pill bug- **_Ow!"_**

For such a small creature, she really packed a punch - literally.

"This is **_serious!"_** she snapped. "Any second now, they'll pin us down!" she pointed at two things beyond his line of sight. **"Case in point!"**

From one side, Frozone released a burst of white. From the other, Honey lemon hurled three chem balls. Faster than thought, Bolt dove and curled around the rats, shielding them with his body. He grunted as Frozone's attack crashed into him with all the fury of a hailstorm and then some. With half his body frozen, and the ice quickly spreading to the rest, there was little he could do in the fraction of a second before Honey Lemon's chem balls hit him ... or _was_ there? Two blasts of laser-thin lightning stopped two chem balls cold, but his sight blurred as the ice reached his eyes just before the third chem ball blocked his vision with pink gunk. The rats remained safe in the tiny, unfrozen pocket created by Bolt's curled body, but with Frozone and Honey Lemon compounding their confines with more and more goop and ice, the prospect of escape grew all the more dismal. Violet's force field was the icing on the cake, completing the mountain of ice and chemicals that imprisoned the animals, and the rest was history.

* * *

"And so fell the mighty Bolt," Rhino summarised with the solemnness of an elegy, "or **_did_** he? Ha ha, suit up, Cat! **_Rhino_** **and his sidekick,** ** _Mittens_** are **bringing the** ** _awesome!"_**

"I ain't got no **_suit_** and we ain't got no _**prayer**_ ** _!"_** Mittens insisted, shrinking back.

"You 'ain't got no' grammar either," Rhino quipped with a chuckle.

Mittens would have slapped him under any other circumstances, but instead she settled for giving the hamster a good shake.

"Rhino, now's **not** the time!" she insisted. "Seriously, what are we gonna **_do?_** The heroes-gone-bananas have probably dug out the rats and Bolt by now! We wasted **_too much time_** watching the replay! **You even wasted time on a** ** _slow motion_** **shot!"**

Rhino blinked. "Um ... no. As awesome as that that would have been, I never slowed the replay. In fact, I sped up the whole thing."

"By **_what?_** **_Half a second?"_** demanded Mittens.

"More like 15x," Rhino corrected.

Mittens was about to argue when she noticed a bird flying overhead, if you could call that flying. With wings that scarcely moved an inch, it effortlessly hung on the air. What was wrong with it? Was it gliding? No, it was ... practically frozen! The cat looked around and found that the trees scarcely swayed; the air scarcely stirred; even the fly that dared to try landing on her nose was moving at only a few millimetres per second. Time had slowed to a crawl, or maybe ... maybe she was thinking and moving so quickly that it only _looked_ that way.

"As fast as we are, we don't have time for the montage where you get used to using your new gifts," Rhino stated. "Don't worry - you'll pick things up on the fly. It's more fun that way."

The hamster stared at the partially melted remains of his plastic ball a short distance from him. "We're gonna need a bigger ball," he commented.

Without warning, Mittens' world was engulfed by a blinding flash as red lightning roared from the sky, seemingly striking her and the hamster. It took the cat a moment to comprehend that she was still alive, and that the lightning had struck Rhino instead. As opposed to perishing on the spot, Rhino radiated the electrical energy and it took shape around the creatures until it formed a ball of brilliant, red electricity. With 'I'm a boss' written all over his face, Rhino rose into the air and floated at the centre of the ball. The electricity didn't hurt, but that didn't stop Mittens from being terrified out of her wits by the blazing lights and deafening din. When the bolt from the sky disappeared, Mittens' screams quickly rose above the ebbing echo of its boom.

Rhino's Tele Vision rapidly changed its perspective so that it looked down upon the mountain of ice, chemical and force field from a daunting height. The visuals seemed to somehow solidify as the image began to change into something more real.

 **((~Let it begin! LET. IT.** ** _BEGIIIIIN!~))_** Rhino screamed, no longer able to contain his excitement.

His tiny paws paddled the air as if running, causing the ball of red lightning to kick into high gear. With astonishing speed, it accelerated into the screen. Mittens didn't know what to expect: maybe the screen would break, or allow them to pass through it like a hologram. Instead, she and Rhino entered the image like walking through a door - no, a portal, and that portal had plunged them into the skies above the ten heroes.

* * *

 _Moments Earlier ..._

The heroes stood around the mountain that encased the rats and the superdog, exchanging clueless glances.

"Sooo ... how do we get at the rats?" asked Mr. Incredible.

"We just dig em out," Fred stated.

"Well, that's **one** way to start the hoopla all over again," Violet argued.

"Yeah, about that," Fred began. "We came, we saw, we wrapped things up in a few minutes and hardly broke a sweat. I expected more - the battle of our lives."

"We fought the Incredibles tooth and nail, chased the mutt across the city and you want **more?!"** GoGo demanded. "That's it! I vote we kick him off the team! If anything he can be our mascot and nothing more!"

"I'm just _sayin'-!"_ Fred began.

"I **_know_** what you're sayin', and I want you to **_stop_** sayin'!" GoGo interrupted. "It's been a long day and **I want my bed!"**

Fred sighed. "Well, I guess you got your wish. It's over."

 **((~Let it begin! LET. IT.** ** _BEGIIIIIN!~))_**

That voice met the heroes' ears with the resonant boom of thunder. Looking up, they witnessed a ball of red light emerge from a portal in the sky shaped much like a screen. Like a meteor, it plummeted towards them - or more specifically towards the mountain in which they had trapped Bolt and the rodents.

"What. Is. That?" asked Wasabi.

"My wish has come **true!"** Fred exclaimed.

When the ball of lightning was battered by a battery of flame, ice, mag lev discs and a tree (the latter courtesy of Mr. Incredible), the only thing louder than Rhino's maniacal laughter was Mittens' incessant shrieking.

Rhino paused his laughter just long enough to assess the situation.

"Okay," he began, "I think the ranged attacks are cutting down too much of our momentum. We probably don't have enough speed to smash the mountain and its shield. Any thoughts, Cat?"

Mittens made no attempt to answer. She was a little too preoccupied with the thought of her perceived eminent death. Besides, she probably didn't hear him with the appropriate screeching and what not.

"For the life of me I can't figure out how, but you just gave me an idea!" Rhino declared.

With that, Rhino conjured up a new screen below him, bearing four markings angled towards the centre. Each mark on this screen was composed of two connected triangles attached to a rod. They made the screen's purpose clear enough.

Fast-forward.

All saw when Rhino's ball shattered the screen and accelerating to staggering speeds. However, none heard the roar of the sonic boom until Rhino crashed through the mountain's force field. Melded with the impact, the two shockwaves thundered as one, tearing the air, blasting trees bare of their leaves and bringing the super heroes to their knees as they fruitlessly covered their ears.

The mountain of ice and chemicals collapsed and the heroes were forced to flee or be caught in the raining debris.

"How's that wish workin' out for ya?" asked GoGo over her communicator.

 **"WHAT?!"** asked a half-deaf Fred.

Meanwhile, the newly freed Bolt rose to a tottering stand, partially stunned by the impact.

"Aw man … that felt terrible," the dog commented. "What hit us? What- what is this?"

Lying a few feet away, the red rat opened her eyes and rose to find Mittens nearby. Physically, the feline seemed fine, albeit standing stock still with her mouth open, frozen in the position of what looked to be a petrified scream. However, no sound escaped Mittens' open mouth, as if she had screamed until there was nothing left to scream. For all intents and purposes, she seemed to be catatonic.

The red rat looked around. It seemed she and the others were surrounded by a large sphere of scarlet lightning, cupping several bits of debris within its base. Being this close to that much electricity made her rather uneasy, especially since she was only beginning to get accustomed to Bolt's lightning. However, this wasn't Bolt's lightning. It was red, not yellow, but it wasn't harming her either. The way it surrounded her and her allies ... was it _protecting_ them?

Above her, something loomed closer. She looked up to see Rhino floating towards her, emanating the lightning that sustained the ball. He touched down before her with angelic grace, extending a paw to help her up and smiling as if he were the greatest thing since CGI animation.

For a second, her jaw went slack and her eyes popped with a sense of 'whoa', but she quickly shook off the moment of awe as a more pressing subject popped into her head.

"Where's Remy?" she asked.

The hamster's smile fell.

"He died," Rhino lied.

Shock flashed across her face before she almost automatically began to sniff the air. Refusing Rhino's paw, she crawled about until her nose led her to a piece of ice the size of a football. Bolt quickly lifted and tossed it aside, revealing the blue rat underneath it, eyes closed, lying motionless.

"Remy? Y-you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

He wordlessly raised a paw in a thumbs up and she breathed a sigh of relief before helping him up, much to Rhino's chagrin.

"Oh **come on!"** the hamster exclaimed. **_"I'm_** the super hero, and the **_hero_** gets the **girl!** It's like a **rule** or something!"

"I'm not 'the girl'. I have a _name!"_ the red rat asserted. A flash of awkwardness passed over her face before she quickly continued. "You wanna be the super hero? Then **_be_** the super hero! Forget about what you 'get' for this! Help us end this because you **_know_** it's the right thing to do!"

Rhino stared at the ground in mild humiliation and nodded. She was right. Then he stood a little taller, rediscovering his nobility as he fired off a salute.

"Aye aye, Mon Capitaine," Rhino agreed as he created a Tele Vision screen within the lightning shield. "One portal to the Eiffel Tower coming up."

The landmark quickly appeared on the screen and the raspberry rat took a moment to process Rhino's new ability. Well, she didn't know what she thought of the hamster, but at least he was useful. Eager, she jumped through the portal, only to find herself on the other side of the screen, still within the force field. She popped her head back through the image to face Rhino.

 **"Why isn't the portal _portalling?!"_** she demanded.

"The longer the distance, the longer it takes to work," Rhino explained, "as much as I adore your pretty peepers, I think sticking your head through the screen is interfering with-"

Too late.

The jarring impact of a speeding force ball sent the lightning sphere rolling, and it was a wonder that none of its more fragile occupants weren't crushed by the debris bouncing about within it. The lightning ball crashed to a stop upon hitting and splitting an ornamental boulder. Its electric shielding dissipated, leaving its occupants exposed. It seemed the shock was enough to jolt Mittens back to normalcy.

 **"Wuzzat?!"** the cat yelled.

Bolt and Rhino were the first to collect themselves and see the ten supers advancing over the icy rubble.

"Eleven to five - I don't like our odds," the red rat commented.

"Most supers have one or two powers. I have several," Bolt assured. "The three of us held the line on our own. With Mittens and Rhino, maybe we can win this time."

"Speaking of 'powers', hit me with your repertoire!" Rhino requested.

"No time," Bolt dismissed.

"Then-let's- _make_ -time," opted Rhino, accelerating his speech to a couple dozen words a second. "We'll-coordinate-better-if-we-know-what-we-can-and-can't-do."

Bolt rolled his eyes before nonetheless speaking at a similar speed. "Fine. So-far,-I've-discovered-that-I-possess-super-speed;-strength;-invuln-I-mean-enhanced-durability-as-well-as-the-power-to-phase-through-solids-with-the-exception-of-ice. I-can-also-sense-anything-that-moves,-I've-got-a-Super-Bark-and-"

"Thunder-Bark," Rhino corrected.

Bolt raised an eyebrow. "Um,-what-now? We-both-know-it's-called-a-'Super-Bark'."

"It- _was,"_ Rhino agreed. "However,-I-don't-think-your-TV-powers-ever-realised-your-true-potential. Your-name's-'Bolt',-but-none-of-them-had-to-do-with-thunder-or-lightning-or-anything-like-that...except-the-'Super-Bark'. That's-like-a-thunder-boom,-but-they-just-got-lazy-and-gave-it-such-a-generic-name! I'm-your-Cisco,-so-I'm-naming-your-powers,- **full-stop!** You've-got-a-Thunder-Bark,-your-lightning-vision-is-called-'Strike-Stare',-and-your-motion-detection-is-called-'Motion-Sixth-Sense'."

"How'd-you-know-about-my-lightn-I-mean-'Strike-Stare'?" asked Bolt.

"I'm-like-a-phantom,-remember?" Rhino boasted. "Besides,-I've-got-Tele-Vision. It-lets-me-use-screens-to-watch-what's-happening-at-other-locations. It-can-even-let-me-rewind-and-see-the-past,-fast-forward-things-and,-as-you-know,-create-portals,-but-I-feel-like-there's-a-lot-more-can-do-with-it. I've-also-got-this-weird-comic-awareness-that-almost-feels-like-breaking-the-'4th-Wall'. If-I-say-things-that-I-shouldn't-know-about-or-that-seem-to-have-no-context-in-this-world,-it-could-be-a-clever-reference-or-something-so-just-assume-it's-awesome-and-roll-with-it. Of-course,-you-already-know-about-my-'Ball-Lighting',-named-after-the-mysterious-phenomenon."

Rhino summoned a bolt of red lightning and it crashed right into him before expanding into the spherical force field.

 **~((Hey!))~** Dash protested from within force bubble of a vehicle. ~((That thing's a _blatant_ knock off of our **IncrediBall!))~**

Rhino smiled as he began to visibly vibrate, his eyes glowing an ominous red.

 **((~** **Oh, this is** ** _nothing_** **like the IncrediBall at all,** **~))** Rhino stated, his voice amped and warped for a menacing, theatrical effect. **((~** **Some would say it's the _reverse._** **~))**

The other animals blinked, raised eyebrows and stared at the hamster in mild confusion.

"It kinda _does_ seem like the IncrediBall to me," Remy commented.

"I- well, _yeah,_ but-! It's just that I love a good pop culture reference in a moment of crisis!" Rhino explained defensively.

"What are you referencing, exactly?" asked Bolt.

The hamster frowned with a sigh. "We're definitely not vibing today, guys."

~((A _'Reverse Dash'?))~_ commented Dash. **~((I** ** _like_** **it!))~**

"See! **_They_** get it!" Rhino exclaimed. "Also, it seems I can now speak to humans. **Cool!** Great for trash talk to keep things interesting! I'm calling it **_'Voice Over'!"_**

Before anyone could think to stop Rhino, the damage had been done.

 **((~** **Hey kid!** **~))** Rhino called. **((~** **Yo' parents are so fat, Thanos had to snap** ** _twice!_** _ **~))**_

If the Incredibles were 'savage' before, that jab threw them into an absolute frenzy. A war cry tore from Dash's lungs, and it took him about half a second to reach Rhino. The hamster's allies willingly stepped (or dove) aside as the IncrediBall rammed the Ball Lightning into next week. Well, that more or less destroyed his chances of using his Voice Over to reason with the heroes.

Seeing The Incredibles and Big Hero 6 surging forth was like standing on a beach, staring up at a tsunami in the split moment before it devoured the shore.

"We. Are going. To die," the red rat commented.

* * *

 **I'm sure some of you guys are well-aware that I didn't come up with the "Thanos had to snap twice" trash talk, but I did modify it slightly.**

 **Can you figure out the sources of the following Easter eggs and references? Reveal them in the comments.**

 **1) "Evidently I can't phase through ice," Bolt noted. "Bummer." (It's a slight reference, but here's a hint: another fictional dog tends to say things like that.)**

 **2) "Pink elephants! _Pink elephants!"_ Hiro exclaimed.**

 **3) "We're gonna need a bigger ball," he commented.**

 **4) ((~Oh, this is _nothing_ like the IncrediBall at all,~)) Rhino stated, his voice amped and warped for a menacing, theatrical effect. ****((~** **Some would say it's the _reverse._** _ **~))**_

 **5) "It's just that I love a good pop culture reference in a moment of crisis!" Rhino explained defensively.**

 **6) The hamster frowned with a sigh. "We're definitely not vibing today, guys."**

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying the holidays.**


	12. Chapter 12: What's Up Danger?

**At some point, a guest had suggested including Ladybug and Cat Noir. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be going with that option for personal reasons, but it was a pretty good idea considering the setting. However, there will be a lot more characters you know and love, as well as some pretty cool ones you probably don't ;). Hint: I ENVY YOU GUYS WHO EXPERIENCED DISNEY ITALY! YOU GOT STORIES THAT MADE DARKWING DUCK LOOK LIKE A _HATCHLING!_ Unfortunately, that wasn't always a good thing, BUT I STILL ENVY YOU! My poor, Western friends, the majority of you have no idea what you were missing. Is there anyone there who has any idea what I'm talking about? If so, let me know. I would be very, _veeery_ impressed if you've picked up on what I'm talking about, or if you can find out with a little help from the search engine.**

* * *

Chapter 12

What's Up Danger?

Mittens wasn't the bravest of all creatures. She wasn't the world's biggest coward either, but standing beside the courageous Bolt and the desensitised Rhino, she always came off as the scaredy cat of the group. During the harrowing experiences she had endured at the paws of the dog and hamster before they became her friends, you couldn't blame her for all of her moments of terror. However, her cockamamie past adventures with Bolt and Rhino were nothing compared to her present predicament.

Mittens lay curled in fetal position at the centre of a park that no longer resembled a park in any way. Whizzing by, blazing past and blasting tons of soil from the ground were all manners of super attacks. She couldn't keep track of half of what was happening around her, let alone the brief bursts of green lightning that sparked to life every time she had a close call. It was a wonder she'd remained untouched by the melee. However, things were about to change.

 **"Mittens, you gotta _move!"_** Bolt shouted as he weaved between Wasabi's stretching blades before narrowly avoiding a double-fisted smash from Mr. Incredible.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home," Mittens muttered once again, paralysed by her fear (to the best of her knowledge).

 **( (** (( **ARF!** )) **) )** barked Bolt, sending Mr. Incredible flying. However, he quickly found himself tumbling after an arctic blast from Frozone. Slowed by the chill, he scarcely managed to avoid Baymax's flying fist before unleashing a barrage of Strike Stares that sent his foes flying in multiple directions.

 **"MOVE, Mittens!"** Bolt repeated with increased fervour.

His words finally registered, but the cat glanced about at a loss, not shifting an inch. _Where_ to move? This place was a war zone! She'd been safe in this spot thus far. Would she jinx it if she moved?

Mittens didn't even know what hit her.

It could have been anything: a piece of debris; a stray attack. Two things were certain. It had landed on top of her.

And it hurt. A lot.

The pain stopped. Mittens felt lighter than she did even after her electric shock. Too light. It was as if she were there, but minus the flesh, bone, fur and all else that constituted her mass. It was an eerily unnatural sensation.

"Oh no ... I'm dead," Mittens muttered. "I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I died. I'm dead."

She worked up the courage to open her eyes and was greeted by the sight of a cloudy skyscape. Was this ... Heaven? If so, where was God? What about the angels?

She looked down at her paws and discovered that there were no paws - only sinews of dancing, green lightning.

For the umpteenth time in that acutely stressful day, Mittens began to scream. Then she fell through the clouds, back to Earth at the speed of light, and her scream reached a whole new volume.

The battle came to an abrupt pause as a green bolt of lightning crashed down in the midst of the fighters, dissipating to reveal the black cat panting in panic.

"I'm ... alive?" she asked tentatively.

 **((~Whoa! Cat, you're _back!~))_** Rhino exclaimed, his Ball Lightning driven mostly into the ground and pinned beneath the IncrediBall. **((~And here you thought 'I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm dead. I died. I'm dead'! HA! You hear that? That was a call back to a call back to a call back of something _I_ didn't even _hear!_ Take THAT, logic! Ooh! _Another_ combo call back to something I didn't hear! And _ANOTHER!_ I'm on a _roll!_ ~))**

"I **_shouldn't_** be alive!" Mittens asserted, still traumatised and unable to care less about Rhino's 'call backs'. "Last I remember, something practically **_killed_** me!"

While Rhino remained subdued beneath Dash and Violet, the battle quickly heated up around them once again.

Rhino grew sheepish. **((~Well, I ... uh ... this is a battle, y'know? Anything could have 'practically killed' you, and it could have happened to anyon-.~))**

 **~((He _squished_ you! He _squished_ you!))~** Dash tattled, pointing an accusing finger at Rhino. **~((He wasn't watching where he was rolling!))~**

If looks could kill, Rhino might have passed away under Mittens' glare. Even when one of Honey Lemon's chem balls narrowly missed her, she never broke her death stare.

The hamster chuckled nervously. **((~Hey, at least you 'lived and learned'.~))**

"I **_died_** and learned!" Mittens spat, again getting lucky when Fred's flames passed her by.

 **((~But you came _back!~))_** Rhino argued. **((~The moment I rolled over you, you turned to lightning, shot into the sky and returned without a scratch! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have ... _Nine Lives!_ Yeah! That's what we'll call it! You should _thank_ me!~))**

She could think of several thinks to do to him that did not involve thanking.

~((Oh, **_he'll_ **get what's coming to him!))~ Dash declared, still holding a grudge against the hamster.

Suddenly, the Ball Lightning disappeared, leaving the IncrediBall formerly on top of it to fall into its place.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" asked Violet.

Suddenly, a portal screen opened above the super siblings and out dropped Rhino, reforming his ball with a booming bolt of lightning.

 **((~I'm back, hairy babies!~))** he declared. **((~And with _another_ combo call back!~))**

The IncrediBall darted clear just before Rhino came crashing down. Returning for a counter attack, Dash and Violet rammed Rhino's force field in a collision of exotic sparks and sound. It didn't take long for the two balls to be bouncing off of each other like pool balls in a blazing-fast string of attacks.

Mittens' attention was yanked back to the battle raging around her. She didn't quite know how to make her next move, but she did _not_ want to have any more near-death experiences. Maybe she had 'nine lives'. Maybe she had more. Maybe she had less, but her regenerative power had its limits. She could feel it - something had ebbed away when she first respawned. By instinct, she knew that it could be replenished just as well as food could quench hunger, but she didn't want to find out what happened when that 'something' hit zero.

So, what to do?

Rhino, being Rhino, remained reckless as ever, and of all the fighters he seemed to endanger her the most. It took her a moment to realise what was really happening, though. He _should_ have hit her - several times, actually, but one way or another, he always missed. In fact, everything was missing her. As more and more heroes started to see her as a threat, she was sure that quite a few of their attacks were aimed at her, but they never quite reached her.

Then it clicked.

The world seemed to change position just a bit every time a hit came her way, but it wasn't moving. _She_ was moving. Faster than consciousness, Mittens was dodging every threat in a blur of green lightning. It felt so natural, like breathing. No one thinks about breathing, and she certainly wasn't thinking about the many little moves she was making to keep out of harm's way. However, her mind was quickly growing into her speed much like an infant learning to walk. Good thing, too: when the berserk heroes _really_ started taking notice of her, Mittens found that 'breathing' wasn't enough.

Mr. Incredible hurled a boulder her way and her heart spiked with fear. She had to run, and run she did. In the next fraction of a second, she found herself hiding up a tall tree a few blocks away from the battle.

 **"Yipe!"** she exclaimed as her own sonic boom caught up with her. It was enough to make her lose her foothold and fall all the way down the length of the tree. She would have landed on her feet, if not for colliding with the lower trunk on the way down. However, she caught sight of the ground before impact and green lightning sprang from her eyes, electrifying the sidewalk just before she landed on her side. Strange. The impact didn't hurt. In fact, it was comfortable - like landing on a pillow. Had her lightning somehow stolen the ground's ability to hurt her?

 **((~You _declawed_ the ground!~))** came Rhino's amplified voice. **((~'Declaw': _that's_ what we're calling your new power!~))**

Scarcely had the rat begun her thought before Bolt and Rhino arrived in a rush of lightning, the rats clinging to the canine's back.

"You _saw_ me?" asked Mittens.

"Tele Vision, remember?" Rhino explained. "Besides, there's that cosmic awareness I told Bolt about earlier. It's like peeking beyond the 4th Wall, and _oh!_ The things I've seen. You do _not_ wanna be in my head, but I'm **lovin'** it!"

Declawing the ground? That was an interesting way to put it. The red rat had seen the fall on Rhino's Tele Vision too, and she had the same explanation in mind. However, her reasoning was a tad more complicated. The ground had squashed inwards in a crater beneath Mittens when she landed, as if it were temporarily made of some soft material designed to cushion the cat's fall. It seemed her Declaw had created an energy field that protected the outside world from everything within it, while making its target highly susceptible to external forces. In other words, instead of Mittens taking damage after falling, the ground had taken the damage for her. Very fascinating indeed ...

"Hmm ..." hummed a thoughtful Bolt. "You're faster than the both of us _combined._ Here, take the rats. You can make it to the Eiffel Tower and back before the heroes blink!"

"Oh, okay. Sure thing," Mittens agreed, allowing the rodents to hop onto her back.

The cat took off, but left Bolt and Rhino exchanging glances upon witnessing her less-than-super speed.

"Um, any time now," Rhino suggested.

"I'm running as fast as I can!" Mittens stated from a little further down the street.

"You're running as fast as a _normal cat!"_ Rhino declared. "C'mon! Pick up the pace!"

Mittens put her back into it, but embarrassingly her muscles refused to move much quicker.

"It's not working!" she stated.

Out of the blue, the IncrediBall swept Rhino away with a charging attack. Once again, the cat vanished in an unimaginably rapid blaze of lightning.

Bolt rolled his eyes. On the bright side, her speed was working again. On the downside, it only seemed to work when she was afraid ... and he had no idea where she had run off to this time.

The dog scanned for Mittens with his Motion Sixth Sense, but it seemed she had stopped running, and was thus more difficult to detect. Unfortunately, his sensory power was distracted by the foes it detected coming in hot, much like a kid tugging on his mother's hand to get her attention. He just needed a _liiittle_ more time to pinpoint Mittens.

Time up.

Plasma blades, rocket fist, mag lev discs, fire and freeze all came raining down at Bolt. Half by luck, he managed to dodge them all for the most part. If not for his durability, Wasabi's glancing blow might have cost him a lower leg.

Bolt's tactical mind spotted an opening for a counterattack, but he underestimated Mr. Incredible's reflexes and charged right into the super's open arms. The dog struggled to break the hero's grip, but strong as he was, Mr. Incredible was stronger. Still, Bolt might have been able to wriggle out of the super's arms given time.

 ** _"Honey!"_** Mr. Incredible called.

In an instant, Elastigirl had wrapped around her husband, reinforcing his grip and thoroughly subduing the canine.

Splitting up, the remaining members of the super hero teams headed off to find the rodents and keep Rhino busy.

* * *

The IncrediBall shoved the Ball Lightning through building after building with no sign of stopping. Only when the two force fields had ploughed into a Buy n' Large supermarket did the IncrediBall come to a stop, but not by choice.

Dash and Violet found themselves frozen in the cross section of a Tele Vision screen, with a 'pause' symbol at the centre overlaying their force field.

 **~((Grrr!))~** the boy growled in frustration, but try as he may, he couldn't move an inch. This brought back the very unwelcome memory of Syndrome's 'zero point energy'.

Rhino gathered himself and twisted his head with his little paws, resulting in a satisfying series of tiny snaps and pops like cracking knuckles.

 **((~Okay, my turn,~))** Rhino declared.

The screen's 'pause' turned to 'rewind' and the IncrediBall was propelled right back where it came from, Violet screaming, Dash roaring vengefully.

* * *

'Scaredy Cat'.

That's what Mittens was sure Rhino would have called her speed-based power given the chance. To think she could only use it in moments of terror. She couldn't decide which she disliked more: the title 'Scaredy Cat' or 'Declaw'. She didn't like being the lily liver of the group, and she hated the fact that her former owners had actually removed her claws. Those names were like jabs at her insecurities, but she could dislike them 'till the cows came home. There was no changing the fact that they were perfectly appropriate.

Mittens grew dizzy as she gazed down the fire escape that she and the rats were climbing.

 _"Whoooa_ boy. I don't do well with heights," the cat commented, backing away from the edge.

"You climbed a tree a minute ago," Remy reasoned, scurrying ahead of her.

"Yeah, well there's 'high' and then there's **_'high'."_** Mittens explained as she hurried after the rats. "This is **_'high'._** How does Bolt do this derring-do without batting an eye?"

"If it helps, you're not Bolt," stated the red rodent, rushing ahead with Remy. "You can't do what he does the way he does it. So don't do it like him. Do it like _you."_

"Oh, so you make references too, huh?" asked Mittens.

"References to what?" asked the red rodent.

"Never mind," Mittens dismissed. "So, how am I supposed to 'do me'?"

"That's something only you can figure out, I guess," the red rat stated in a half-sagely, half-lazy answer.

Having reached the top of the fire escape, the rodents climbed onto Mittens' back before she leapt onto a windowsill and to to the edge of the building's roof, pulling herself up. They all climbed to the top of the spire on the roof and looked around at the landscape.

"Recognise anything, Remy?" asked the red rat.

"I still have no idea where we are," Remy answered, "except that we're close to the edge of the city, but anyone with eyes can see that. **There!** I can see the Eiffel Tower!"

"But it's so _far,"_ the female groaned in disappointment. "How did we get so far off course?"

Mittens frowned. "And me being the only one with super speed and no idea how to use it."

The cat's eyes popped. _Did_ she have no idea how to use her speed?

"Strap yourselves to me with my collar real tight," Mittens instructed.

"Okay," Remy replied as he and the other rodent complied. "I take it you have an idea?"

Mittens wasn't listening at the time. Her eyes had drifted to the bustling street below and her head swam with the dread of her plan.

"What's up, danger?" Mittens muttered.

 _"Huh?"_ asked the rats in unison.

"It's a movie reference, something Rhino might have said," Mittens explained. "However, I'm not Rhino. I'm not Bolt either, but I think I figured out how to 'do me'."

Without warning, the cat leapt down from the spire and rushed across the roof, right towards the edge.

 **"Wait!** I said _'do you',_ not **'commit suicide'!"** the red rat yelled in a hurried panic. _"You_ can respawn! _We_ can't! **MITTENS!? _MITTEEENS!?"_**

The rat's pleas degenerated into screams as the cat threw herself over the edge, and Mittens was pretty sure her own terrified voice was mixed in there somewhere. She could have used her Declaw on the ground, but she didn't afford herself even that comfort. Not yet. Mittens even fought her own instincts and refused to twist so as to land on her feet, and her instincts were shrieking in abject terror. Good. That terror built to mind-boggling proportions as Mittens neared the ground. Just a _little_ farther ...

Four feet from going 'splat', the cat deployed her Declaw and let her body snap into position to land on her paws. All that pent up fear came to life in the lightning that surged off her body, and Mittens tore away with a sonic boom on her tail.

* * *

"Is the dog still alive?" asked Elastigirl.

"I ... think so?" Mr. Incredible answered uncertainly.

"Is he still _breathing?"_ pressed Elastigirl.

"I honestly can't tell," replied Mr. Incredible.

"Seriously, Honey! How hard are you _squeezing_ him?" Elastigirl asked in an accusing tone.

"I'm not _squeezing_ him, I'm just holding him _firmly!"_ Mr. Incredible argued. "Besides, he's a tough dog, he can handle it! Maybe he's, I dunno, playing dead!"

"Dogs don't play dead this well unless they actually **_are_** dead!" Elastigirl countered.

Bolt would have liked for them to think that he was dead. Perfectly limp and scarcely drawing a breath, it seemed his plan was working. However, he would have liked it even more if the Incredibles released him. Though they bickered back and forth about his status, it seemed they had the presence of mind not to take any chances. That was fine. At least they had loosened their grips. Besides, he was using the time to focus his Motion Sixth Sense on finding Mittens and the rats. After all, he had to know where to go once he was free. At first, he drew a blank: too much city and too many cats to single out Mittens at this distance. As for the rats? They were simply too small to discern at that distance. Besides, this power was pretty new to him. Using it was like learning how to walk.

There! He had her! She was moving rather strangely. In one moment, she flashed past the sonic barrier. In the next, she had returned to a normal run before bursting back to incomprehensible speeds. Her path was a haphazard zigzag, but nonetheless he had her.

In an unexpected surge of staggering might, Bolt writhed as he tried to break free of the supers. They instantly tightened their grips, but the leeway he had was just enough to give him a fighting chance. In one final effort, Bolt wriggled his body to turn around and found himself face to face with Mr. Incredible. He still wasn't free. However, he smiled.

"Hey, why are _you_ so smug with yourself?" asked Mr. Incredible.

"Oh no ..." commented Elastigirl, having figured it out.

 **( (** (( **BARK!** )) **) )**

The super heroes' grips broke as they were blasted away from the canine. Bolt tumbled to the ground, and no sooner was he on his feet before he shot into the distance.

* * *

Monster Baymax soared through the French firmament with the other Big Heroes tagging along for the ride. Between Honey Lemon's ChemiCal and GoGo's MagnetEyes, they had a pretty good idea of the direction in which Mittens and the rats were heading, and were well on their way to heading them off.

* * *

In the middle of a buzzing street, Mittens' speed ran out once again, but she kept finding creative ways to scare herself silly and regain it - in this case by running under the wheel of a speeding vehicle. Little more than an inch from becoming roadkill, her speed kicked in and she had covered a kilometre.

Having dashed up the side of a building, Mittens slowed to normal sprint as she spotted the Eiffel Tower from the top, regaining her sense of direction before diving off the edge. As she fell, her feet met the side of the structure and she sprinted back to impossible speeds, cutting in front of cars; turning into walls and changing direction at the last second; running on water; taking detours through guard dog territories and provoking attacks - _anything_ to coax out her inner scaredy cat.

Mittens' paws pattered onto grass as she entered the green space Champ De Mars - the only thing separating her from the Eiffel Tower. Her goal was in sight, but unfortunately so was the entire Big Hero 6, disembarking Baymax at the centre of Champ De Mars.

"Oh _great!"_ whined Mittens. "These guys just don't quit!"

Well, no matter. She didn't think there was a speedster on Earth who could catch her when she had a good scare. Now, all she needed was such a scare to kick start her speed again. Unfortunately, her wish came at first in the form of a chill on her back. Her mind and body jumped into hyper drive and she took off, but something wasn't right. Looking back, Mittens found her leg frozen to the ground, by what could only be Frozone's blast, but he was not done there. With her speed, she was able to witness his icy power moving up her leg and to her flank as if it were in slow motion, but her speed couldn't save her. Maybe something else could. She fired her Declaw, but it passed through the chilly white with no effect. With most of her lower body encased in ice, Mittens had to act fast, shoving the rats out of her collar.

The rodents tumbled onto the grass and quickly regained their footing to find Mittens completely enveloped in ice.

"Oh man, this is bad!" the red rat stated.

In a flash, Bolt and Rhino arrived, the hamster's Ball Lightning shielding against Frozone's second attack. In spite of the freezing winds crashing against his ball and the heroes charging in, Rhino was laughing. Bolt was curious as to what had tickled the hamster's funny bone, but first things first.

 **"Hop on!"** Bolt commanded, quickly obeyed by the rats. "Rhino, is there a _reason_ why you're cackling like that?"

"I think I just charged my **finisher!"** the hamster proclaimed proudly.

Bolt blinked in confusion. "What?"

 **"It means I'm about to do something _WICKED_ O.P. and _INSANELY_ AWESOME!" **Rhino explained, his enthusiasm reaching a crescendo. **"Go! I'll distract them!"**

"Are you su-?" Bolt began, before being interrupted by the hamster.

"Trust me. There's **_nothing_** more distracting than Tele Vision," Rhino declared with a grin.

Bolt relented. "Alright. Just don't get killed, okay?"

Without another word, the hamster reached his paws to the heavens and summoned a plethora of lightning bolts. Everyone squeezed their ears and eyes shut as the lightning struck him with a cacophony of tempestuous roars, over and over and over. As quickly as it began, the lightning ceased, leaving Rhino's a blinding ball of radiance. After absorbing that much energy, Bolt feared that Rhino would explode ... and he did. All at once, the lightning erupted in every direction, creating a dome of red much like his ball, albeit big enough to engulf all of Champ De Mars and the heroes on its grounds. Rhino rose into the air like a white-hot star, surrounded by a swirling mass of screens.

 ** _( (_** ** _((~BEEEHOOOLD, REALITY TELEVISION!~)) ) )_** Rhino declared with a resonant boom in his voice.

One of the hamster's screens swooped down and snatched up Bolt and the rats, teleporting them just outside of the barrier and right in front of the Eiffel Tower.

 **( ( DON'T KILL ANYBODY, OKAY? ) )** Bolt shouted into the lightning dome, but he had a feeling Rhino's maniacal laughter rendered his super voice null and void.

"Well, that makes twice I've been rendered deaf today," Remy announced a-matter-of-factly.

Luckily, Bolt's ears were far more durable than Remy's, but what he heard at that time was a mystery. It was giggling - disembodied giggling that echoed like the voice of a spectre. Bolt tried to ignore the unexplainable noise and focus on finishing the mission. A super jump should get him a good way up the Eiffel Tower. He leapt, but quickly found himself held in place by an invisible force a few feet from the ground. The giggling persisted, somehow drawing nigh though its source remained unseen. Bolt's Motion Sixth Sense detected movement, but like the giggle it seemed to have no discernible origin.

Suddenly, a baby in a red super suit and black mask flopped out of a swirling portal before Bolt, grunting upon landing unharmed and in a seated position. Jack Jack looked up at the frozen super dog with big blue eyes and a curious coo before giggling. Albeit less creepy now that the baby was revealed, the eerie giggling indubitably belonged to him.

* * *

The heroes unleashed their powers and technologies upon the dome that separated them from Bolt and the rodents, but their best efforts came to naught.

They turned to Rhino, still floating at the centre of the dome. Mr. Incredible didn't know what kind of power the hamster had unleashed, but he was ready to nip it in the bud.

The super charged towards Rhino.

The hamster grinned. He'd dreamed of this. Now, he knew that he could make his dreams a reality.

One of Rhino's screens had stopped swirling to expand and block the super's path, but Mr. Incredible's fist was poised to smash right through it to its master. The super threw a titanic punch. Much to his surprise, something emerged from the screen - a massive fist that collided with his own in a concussive impact, cancelling his attack. Following the fist came an iconic statement, straight from the heart of classic gaming.

 **"I'm gonna _WRECK_ it!"**

* * *

Bolt flailed in the air, attempting to break free of what ever held him fast. Jack Jack giggled all the more and clapped his hands at sight of Bolt's plight. It didn't take much to assume that the child was responsible for Bolt's predicament. It didn't take much to figure out that the child was an Incredible either.

The dog quickly realised that the backlash of a Super Bark, err ... 'Thunder Bark' might free him from the Jack Jack's telekinesis. That was also a good way to accidentally blast away the baby in front of him. In other words, bad idea. However, Bolt's fortune changed when the child made him telekinetically spin in the air. The moment Bolt was faced away from the toddler, he gave a mild Thunder Bark and was thrown out of the telekinetic grip.

Bolt had every intention of taking off the second he landed, but sniffles and whimpers held him on the spot just as firmly as the telekinesis did. He turned tack to see Jack Jack on the verge of tears. The dog kicked himself mentally. Thunder Barks were loud, duh. Maybe this one had hurt the baby's ears, hence the whimpers.

Eyebrows furrowed in concern, Bolt trotted over to Jack Jack as the baby burst into tears. The dog gave the toddler a comforting lick, which brought a smile back to Jack Jack's face. Suddenly, Bolt found the child's arms wrapped around him in a premeditated hug. Like all babies, Jack Jack had learned early on that crying often got him what he wanted. He wanted to hug the fluffy, white animal, so he let flow the waterworks, and that's exactly what he got. Baby 101.

Bolt let the child hold on for a few moments before attempting to pull away. Jack Jack only tightened his grip, and it was a pretty strong grip, too. The way the raspberry rat screamed something about her flesh, her bones and her organs told him that Jack Jack's fingers had reached the rodents on Bolt's back. Clearly the child had super strength, on top of telekinesis and teleportation. How many powers did this kid have, anyway?

Bolt felt a strange, offsetting sensation. It was much like the feeling he picked up when Jack Jack first teleported in, but different somehow. Not just different. _Wrong._ His instincts told him **_'run!'_** , but how could he with the fragile little bundle of joy attached to him? Maybe Jack Jack was tougher than the average child, but Bolt didn't want to risk it. Nonetheless, yellow lightning left his body unbidden before melding with a swirling portal birthed by Jack Jack. Now, Bolt was ready to run, but his instincts carried a different message.

'Too late now.'

In the twinkling of an eye, Bolt, Jack Jack and the rats disappeared into the yellow portal. Where was it taking them? Somewhere beyond their imaginations.

Beyond infinity.

* * *

 **So, what do you think of Rhino and Mittens' powers? Are they what you imagined them to be?**

 **Now, here are the chapter's Easter egg references. Well, I kind of outlined them for you, so I dunno if they qualify as true "Easter eggs", but you get the gist. Can you figure out their sources? If so, comment and prove your fiction savvy (or just prove how well google works when you try to look them up. Bonus points if you don't have to google.)**

 **1) That Disney Italy series I highlighted at the start. Like I said, I'd be EXTREMELY impressed if you can figure it out before it shows up in the story.**

 **2)** **"There's no place like home. There's no place like home," Mittens muttered once again, paralysed by her fear. (This quote has been used a lot, but in this case I'm referring to usage in a specific Disney/Pixar movie.)**

 **3) ((~Whoa! Cat, you're back!~)) Rhino exclaimed, his Ball Lightning driven mostly into the ground and pinned beneath the IncrediBall. ((~And here you thought 'I'm dead-I'm dead-I'm dead-I'm dead-I'm dead-I'm dead-I died-I'm dead'! HA! You hear that? That was a call back to a call back to a call back of something _I_ didn't even _hear!_ Take THAT, logic! Ooh! _Another_ combo call back to something I didn't hear! And _ANOTHER!_ I'm on a _roll!~))_ (Of course, that paragraph was chock-full of Easter eggs. Can you figure out them all?)**

 **4) ((~I'm back, hairy babies!~)) he declared. ((~And with _another_ combo call back!~))**

 **5) "If it helps, you're not Bolt," stated the red rodent, rushing ahead with Remy. "You can't do what he does the way he does it. So don't do it like him. Do it like _you."_**

 **6) "What's up, danger?" Mittens muttered.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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